Joining The Winchesters
by HonoraryWinchester
Summary: Maddy, a hunter, finds herself face to face with the Winchesters who help her when she is trapped during a hunt. She struggles through jarring hallucinations and countless injuries, but she has the Winchester brothers to help her through it all. As she gets to know them better a romance starts to form. They even take a trip to Disneyland! :) (Ch. 12) Read to find out more :)
1. Werewolves Are Not Nice

**Author Note: Thanks for clicking on my story! Hope you enjoy :)**

I awake to the sounds of soft whispers and rub the sleep from my eyes. I have somehow managed to fold my 5 foot 10 inch body into a laying position in the backseat of the Impala. I notice the jacket lying across me and smile to myself: Sam, always so thoughtful. I stay still and listen to the conversation coming from the front of the car.

"I think I can figure out how to get into town, we don't need the stupid map", says Dean.

With an impatient grunt Sam replies, "Using the map will just help us get there faster, no need to be so brash. It wouldn't hurt your precious image to use some help."

I stifle a laugh at their silly argument. These random arguments happen often and I have learned to get used to them, but also simply ignore them. I have been traveling with the brothers for about a year now, but meeting them feels like only yesterday.

My parents were excellent hunters and raised me to follow in their footsteps. They home schooled me in every subject, with the addition of hunting 101. As a family we hunted and killed hundreds of creatures in the attempts of making this world safer. However, hunting is a dangerous lifestyle and both of my parents were killed by a demon when I was seventeen. I was out collecting some supplies and I found their bodies when I returned home. The telltale sign of sulfur was left behind, telling me that demons were responsible.

It took me an entire year to find the demon that murdered my parents, but I succeeded and got the revenge that I so desired. I hunted on and off on my own for the next three years with the occasional contact with our family friend Bobby Singer. He let me crash at his place every once in awhile; I think he enjoyed the company. He told me about the Winchesters, two brothers who excelled in hunting, and that I should contact them if I ever needed help but I didn't think I would ever meet them. However, a job went south and I was pinned behind a dresser with a vengeful ghost coming towards me with murder in its eyes. The Winchesters, having been working the same job unbeknownst to either of us, busted through the doors and saved me from a horrible death. I've been traveling and hunting with them ever since.

Sam, noticing that I was awake, looks back at me and says, "Well, look who decided to finally join us."

I stretch my arms and hand him his jacket back, "Thanks for the jacket blanket. Where are we?" I look out of the windows and notice a few small stores; a flower shop, a deli, and a convenience store. We drive by many more shops and restaurants on our way towards the motel at the end of the street.

"Spearfish, South Dakota." Dean replies as he turns into the motel parking lot.

Dean goes into the office to get us a room while Sam fills me in on what I missed during my nap,

"Bobby called and told us his hunter friend Eric needed help with a werewolf problem in this town. We are going to help him hunt down the werewolves that have been killing people in the forest."

Werewolves often prey on joggers and hikers in the forest because there are no witnesses to the murders. The brothers and I have killed our fair share of them, but I still feel nervous about killing a whole pack. I respond,

"Okay, its always nice meeting and helping other hunters."

Sam notices my apprehension and gives me a reassuring look. He opens his mouth to say something, but Dean pulls open the driver's side door.

He hands us the room keys, "We are in 123 right over there." pointing to the green door with the peeling paint to our right.

I assess the room as we walk in. No pullout couch; guess I'm sharing a bed tonight. We set our bags down and start the process of getting ready to go to sleep. Dean calls the first shower and runs to claim the bathroom before Sam or I can steal it. Dean doesn't like sharing a bed, so Sam and I naturally gravitate toward the farthest bed from the door and sit down. I flop back on the bed,

"Wow, I just slept for who knows how long but I am still so beat."

Sam chuckles, "Sleeping in the back seat of the Impala isn't exactly restful sleep."

"That's very true. I don't know how I even manage to lay down, it's so small back there." I laugh.

"You have a talent." Sam smiles at me as he flips on the TV.

We lay there in silence, watching the devastating news about another person killed by the "bear" in the woods. Sam and I look at each other with sad expressions but are at a loss for words. Dean exits the bathroom and I slip in after him to take a much-needed shower. I let the warm water relax my muscles until it starts to turn cold. I quickly change my clothes, so Sam can take a shower. I start to fall asleep almost immediately after my head hits the pillow, only vaguely feeling the bed shake as Sam slips between the sheets next to me.

I don't wake again until early the next morning. I notice that neither of the brothers are awake, so I quietly change my clothes and go out into the chilly South Dakota air. I walk to the coffee shop I saw on our way through town and order three large to-go cups. The boys are just getting up when I come through the door. They look from me to the coffees and practically run over to grab one.

"Thanks" they say in unison, making us all laugh.

"So what's the plan for today?" I ask, taking a big sip of the warm coffee.

"Eric says that the werewolves tend to come out around five, so we are meeting him around four to make an official game plan." Dean says.

I nod and walk over to my bag of gear to make sure that I have everything that I need. We spend to remaining hours cleaning guns and sharpening knives so that the werewolf eradication can go smoothly. Restlessness kicks in around three and we decided to drive to the rendezvous spot early because we have nothing else to do. It turns out Eric had the same idea and is already there when we pull up next to him. He waves at us and walks over to our car.

"Hey guys thank you so much for coming, there was no way I could have handled this by myself." He smiles at us.

Dean shakes his hand, "No problem man, it's our pleasure. This is my brother Sam and our companion Maddy."

Sam and I each take turns shaking Eric's hand. Eric then relays all the information he has on the whereabouts of the werewolves. He shows us a map of the forest and where the werewolves like to converge.

"From my reconnaissance trips into the woods, I have figured out that there are about three to four werewolves living in an old abandoned cabin near the stream," he points to a small 'x' that he has drawn on the map, "and they come out around five to hunt."

Dean looks at the map, "So what is your plan exactly? Ambush the cabin, or wait for them to leave?"

"They know the woods too well," Eric scratches his head, "I think that we need to ambush the cabin to catch them off guard."

Sam adds his thoughts, "Don't you think that's too risky? Going in blind? We have no idea what lies ahead of us in there."

I have a bad feeling about this idea of ambushing, it isn't the way that we usually hunt. However, I don't see another option and I really want these werewolves to stop hurting people.

"I think that this plan is the only way to save this town from these monsters." I state. Sam and Dean both look at me with wide eyes.

"Are you sure Maddy? This sounds risky." Dean says with worry in his eyes.

"I know this plan is risky, but what other choice do we have?" I say, trying to keep my voice steady.

Sam and Dean nod and start to collect the necessary weapons. Eric leads the way to the cabin and we watch as werewolves mill around inside. I check my gun to make sure the safety is off and that a silver bullet is loaded into the chamber. I take a deep breath as we bust through the door and into the cabin.

I know immediately that we have made a huge mistake. There are seven werewolves sitting in the cabin, not the predetermined three or four. My heart starts to race as bullets began to fly. The silver bullets that we all fire instantly kill two of the werewolves. One of the werewolves leaps from the couch and tackles Dean, and soon the other wolves rush Sam, Eric and I. One of the wolves pushes me into the kitchen trying to use its claws against me. I hear gunshots from the living room and hope that the others are okay. The werewolf punches my face and sends me flying across the room. I quickly stand up and find the wolf right in front of me, claws extended. I try to jump out of the way but am too slow as his claws come down, slicing four deep lacerations into my abdomen. However, he doesn't see me raise my gun and I shoot him straight through the heart. I look down at my front,

"Shit." I say as blood pours out of the deep wounds.

I sink to the floor and try to put pressure on the lacerations but there are too many to try and cover. I listen to the room next to me, but it sounds quiet.

"S-Sam! D-D-Dean!" I choke out as tears spring from my eyes.

Sam comes bursting into the kitchen,

"Nice jo-" Sam starts when he sees the dead werewolf but trails off when he sees me leaning against the cabinets. He rushes over with panic in his eyes. "N-no, Maddy stay with me," He says as my eyes start to slide shut, "Hey, hey look at me you need to stay awake." He takes his flannel over shirt off and presses it to my abdomen. "Dean!" He yells.

"Wha- Oh god, Sammy what happened!" He races over and takes one look at me and all the blood drains from his face. He goes into complete survival mode; "We need to get to the hospital immediately. Sam can you carry her? I'll run and get the car as close as I can, let me grab Eric to help me." He runs out of the room and I can faintly here him yell something at Eric.

"Sam…" I start to say but the pain is getting too intense. I clutch at my abdomen and wince. Sam looks down at me with a million different emotions running across his face.

"I'm going to carry you and it's going to hurt like hell, but please stay with me." He quietly tells me.

He picks me up and the pain is so intense, I let out a breath and bite my tongue to keep from crying out. He walks with me through the forest until the roar of the Impala becomes audible. Dean jumps out and helps Sam put me into the back of the car, where Sam lays my head in his lap. As Dean speeds away, a thought suddenly occurs to me,

"Oh, Dean," I say sluggishly, "I'm going to bleed on your seats."

He lets out one sharp laugh, "Are you kidding me? You're bleeding out back there and you think I care about the seats?"

I look up at Sam and see the scared expression on his face, "Sammy," I say touching his face, "It's okay, it's only a scratch." He smiles a little, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.

"I'm just so tired." I slur as my eyes start to droop.

"No! Maddy wake up," Sam lightly pats my cheek to wake me up, "we're almost there, please stay with us." He pleads with me. Dean slams the car in park and helps Sam carry me into the hospital. The rest becomes a blur as nurses rush over and place me on a gurney and cut my clothes away to reveal my wounds. I vaguely hear Sam arguing with the nurses that hold him back from coming with me.

"It's alright sweetie, we are here to help you. You can sleep now." Says one of the nurses. I let my eyes close and drift into the blackness.


	2. Pain

**Author Note: Thank you so much for reading! Please leave a review so that I know when to write more chapters! Also, message me any ideas that you want me to write about and maybe I will include them! :)**

Memories from the hunt starts to flood back into my mind as I start to regain consciousness. I can see the werewolf lunging at me with his sharp claws and take a sharp intake of breath as my eyes open to the white hospital room. I blink my eyes as they adjust to the sun coming through the windows. I look to my left and see Sam has fallen asleep while leaning his head against my bed.

I lift up the bed sheets to look at my wounds, but they are tightly bandaged up. I must be on a lot of medication because I can't feel a thing. Sam looks so peaceful while he sleeps but I decide I should wake him up. I reach over with a shaky arm and push the hair out of his eyes.

"Sammy," I whisper with a scratchy voice, "wake up."

He stirs and stretches his arms over his head and when he opens his eyes and sees me looking at him he sits upright,

"Maddy! I'm so glad you're finally awake." He practically shouts while he bends over to give me a hug.

"So am I." I chuckle, "How long have I been out?"

Sam looks relieved, "Just about a day, you gave us all a real scare. Bobby was ready to drive over here but we told him we had it handled."

Bobby is like a father to all of us and it makes my heart hurt to know that I scared him that bad. I can't wait to get back to his house and give him a big hug.

I sigh, "So how bad am I? What's the damage?"

"It took about 30 stitches to close up the wounds on your stomach and two bags of blood to make you stable again," He looks pained, "and you also have a pretty mean black eye." He laughs, "You are definitely one tough cookie."

Just then, Dean enters the room carrying take-out bags from a diner. He breathes a sigh of relief when he sees that I'm awake, "Hey kid, it's nice to see those green eyes again." He hands the bags to Sam and leans in for a hug. Then, he pats my shoulder, "Whenever you're ready we can ditch this place and head to Bobby's for a few days so that you can recover."

"Thanks," I smile at him, "I would definitely rather lay on Bobby's couch than stay in this hospital room any more than necessary."

Sometime later, a nurse comes to help me walk shakily to a wheelchair so that we can get to the car. Dean pulls up right in the front and hops out to help me. Sam and Dean get on either side of me and help lower me into the backseat. I lay down so that the stitches aren't being pulled and try to slow down my breathing and ignore the pain. Sam and dean exchange worried glances after seeing my pale face.

"It's about a five hour drive to Bobby's, so if you need us to stop to take a breather just give a shout." Dean tells me.

I give them a reassuring smile and a thumbs up, "It's just a scratch, glad to see I didn't ruin your seats though."

Sam and Dean both laugh at this and turn back to the road to navigate back towards the highway. I slip in and out of sleep as we fly across the highway towards Sioux Falls, only regaining full consciousness when we pull into a gas station. I stretch my arms and Sam glances back at me,

"Hey, we are about an hour away. Just had to stop for gas and some snacks."

The brothers go inside, and I decide to sit up, not before realizing that this is a big mistake. As I sit up my stitches pull a little and I gasp as my vision goes black around the edges. I take some deep calming breaths as some tears escape my eyes. I decide against trying to get out of the car, scared I might pass out. Sam and Dean get back into the car and Dean looks at me,

"You okay?" He asks, concern in his voice.

I give a half-hearted smile, "G-great, lets head to Bobby's."

The next hour goes by pretty fast. I try to keep myself occupied so that I don't think about the pain. I'm so relieved when the 'Singer Salvage Yard' sign comes into view. Bobby comes out of the house and opens my door,

"Oh, Maddy." He says with worry in his tone as he helps me get out of the car. I give him a light hug,

"I'm alright Bobby," I smile at him, "wounds heal." We walk slowly into the house, "I'm going upstairs to lay down for a bit."

Sam looks hesitant, "Do you need help getting up the stairs?"

I pat his arm and smile, "If you hear my fall down the stairs then come, but I think I can handle it." The three of them walk into the kitchen and I cautiously walk towards the stairs. Each step is agony but I finally made it to the top. I pause to catch my breath and listen to the boys talk downstairs.

"So how is she really?" Bobby asks.

Dean replies, "Maddy's putting on a brave face but I think she's in a lot of pain."

"Yeah," Sam responds, "When she thinks no one's watching her face kind of contorts and her pain shows through."

I should have known they could see me from the gas station. I wasn't trying to hide my pain from them; I just didn't want them to worry. I walk into the bathroom and take two pain pills that I had in my pocket and grab some fresh bandages from the medicine cabinet. In the bedroom, I gingerly sit on the bed in front of the floor length mirror Bobby bought for me years ago. I lift my shirt and slowly peel the blood-soaked bandage away from my wounds. I bite my tongue to keep from crying out when I hear a light knock on the door.

"Maddy?" Sam asks, "Can I come in?"

I compose myself, "Yeah, it's open."

He comes into the room with my duffel bag hanging from his shoulder. He comes over and pulls a chair in front of me, "Need some help?"

I hand him the bandages, "Thanks, it's hard to put them on when I can't see the entire thing."

He works with light hands to clean the wound, and I wince when he puts antibiotic cream into it. I grab his arm without thinking and then immediately let go.

"Sorry." I say and turn my head to disguise the blush forming on my cheeks.

I've had a small crush on Sam for the past few months and I have a sneaking suspicion that the feeling is mutual. However, I haven't had the courage to say anything. I'm not sure if it was the pain pills kicking in or what, but I feel the words rising in my mouth.

Looking at him I say, "I like you Sam." And then I start to nervously ramble, "I think it's the pain pills making me loopy so I might regret this later, but I think you like me too but maybe not. I didn't know how to say any of this before bu-", He's looking me in the eyes and it makes my mind go blank, "b-but, yeah that's what's happening in the scary depths of Maddy's mind." I look away.

Sam chuckles and I feel my stomach drop and think 'Great, here comes the rejection' but instead he says,

"You're such a goof Maddy, and that's why I-I like you too."

I turn back to look at him and he gives me a big grin.

My mouth turns against me and I blurt out, "Shut up." My eyes widen, "Uh, what I meant was; Really?" Sam nods and leans over to give me a small kiss on the lips.

"Now get some rest loopy, we can talk more tomorrow." He pushes me back onto the bed and pulls the blankets over me. He leaves the room, giving me one last glance and a smile before he closes the door. I can't stop smiling as my mind drifts into sleep.


	3. The Start of Something

**Author Note: Thanks for continuing to read! More action is coming soon, so stay tuned!**

I slowly make my way down the stairs and into the kitchen where I am greeted by a table full of breakfast foods. It smells like bacon and cinnamon and my mouth instantly starts to water. I grab a plate and load it up with as much food as I can. Bobby laughs when he walks into the room seeing me stuffing my face.

"Hi darlin'," he gives me a hug, "sleep well?"

"Actually, yes. Those pain pills they gave me really knocked me out. Where is everyone?" I look into the living room but don't see Sam or Dean.

"Dean's doing something to the car and Sam is sitting outside." He points towards the back door. As I glance at the back door my mind goes back to last night and I replay our conversation for the millionth time. Then reality comes back to me when I hear Bobby,

"Earth to Maddy, did you hear me?"

"H-huh? What? N-no what did you say?" I stammer.

"How are you feeling?" he looks suspicious.

I regain my composure, "Oh, yeah I feel okay. Moving around helps a little. I think I'll go see what everyone is up to outside."

Bobby nods as I make my way to the door and open it. Sam is sitting with his laptop at an old picnic table that has peeling red paint. He glances up when he hears me approach and a smile spreads across his face. I lower myself onto the seat and groaned a little when my stitches pull.

I let out a breath, "So… about last night. I am so sorry that I sprang all of that on you without any warning." I give a sheepish grin.

Sam runs his hand through his hair, "I was actually planning on telling you my feelings when I walked into the room, but you beat me to it." He laughs at my shocked expression but then turns serious, "When I saw you slumped over in that cabin I realized that I can't imagine my life without you."

I smile as wide as I can, "After spending this last year together; being together 24/7, sharing beds, etc. I kind of forgot that we weren't dating." I blush a little, "I have always felt drawn to you because of your kindness and reliability, I – I really like that, and you."

He reaches across the table and grabs my hand and rubs circles on it with his thumb.

"Does this mean I can do this now whenever I want?" as he leans across the table and kisses me lightly, leaving my head spinning. I am lost in the moment until my side bumps against the table and I let out a small yelp. He pulls back and looks at me with confusion and panic.

I laugh, "Sorry, bumped against the table. For a moment I forgot about the slashes in my stomach." I take some deep breaths to calm the burning pain. I brush the hair out of his face and kiss him once more before cautiously standing,

"I feel better when I'm walking around so I'll go see what Dean is up to." He smiles at me as I walk away.

I walk around the side of the house and towards the garage area. I enter the garage, clutching my throbbing side and walk over to where Dean is leaning under the hood of the car. He glances over at me, "Hey, kid." One really nice thing about Dean is that he doesn't like all the gushy conversation, so once he sees that I am alive and walking upright. he doesn't ask how I am feeling. I sit slowly onto a nearby stool and watch him work. It's oddly soothing, watching him work on the Impala.

Dean breaks the silence, "So what's up with you and Sam?"

This catches me off guard, "W-what do you mean?"

He chuckles slightly, "He was smiling like an idiot after he left your room last night and acted exactly like you did just now when I asked him about it."

He smiles at my stunned expression and pushes my shoulder, "I'm on your side, so if he hurts you I'll kill him. I don't care if he's my brother, you're more fun to have around."

This makes me laugh, "Thanks. It's just the beginning of something, but I think there might be something there."

"It took you two long enough." He smiles at my confused expression, "Sam was smitten with you the second he saw you. Bobby and I have been waiting for him to make a move for months."

I think back on the past few months, all the stolen glances and shared looks we gave each other. Every time he gave me his jacket or held the door open for me. Wow, we really were blind and just having a good time together.

"Yeah," I admit, "I guess we were pretty oblivious." I think about the past year and feel sentimental, "I don't think I say it enough, but I am so grateful for everything you two have done for me." I look down at the floor, "This has been the best year ever, I'm glad you let Sam convince you to let me join you guys."

He looks over at me and lets his guard down for a second, but he is back to the hardcore Dean again before I can blink, "Bleh, no chick flick moments please." He goes back to working on the car, but I can faintly hear him say, "It didn't take too much convincing though, you were awesome I couldn't let that get away."

I decide not to torture him anymore and make my way back to the house. I sit down to watch some TV because my side is starting to really hurt. Bobby is sitting at his desk flipping through books, marking certain pages and writing things on a notepad.

"Hey, what are you researching?" I ask him, trying to see the names of the books from the couch.

He closes the book and sighs, "There's been a string of demon possessions and other problems around this area. I have been trying to figure out a better way to stop the problems, other than just hoping we find them." He rubs his hands across his face and gets up to go to the kitchen. Sam and Dean come inside and join him at the table. They chat aimlessly while I watch the news with drooping eyelids.

Just as I am about to fall asleep, all of the windows in the living room explode inward, showering me with broken glass. I am about to get up when suddenly a woman appears in front of me, her eyes turning black. She grabs me by the neck and throws me across the room where my shoulders and head crack painfully against the wall, not to mention pull my stitches. Blood starts pouring out of my lip where I accidentally bit it and my vision starts to blur from the pain.

Sam, Dean, and Bobby spring into action shooting at her, but she simply stands there completely unharmed.

"I heard you were looking for me." She confidently states.

She tries to lunge at Bobby but hits an invisible wall "What the-" she starts.

"Guess you didn't think about the idea of me having a devils trap." Bobby says to her.

The demon looks up at the devil's trap painted on the ceiling. She screams with frustration and tries to break free.

My head starts to droop as I slump against the wall, holding my aching stitches. Sam and Dean rush over to see if I'm okay.

"Take her into the basement boys, the medical stuff is down there. I have this covered." Bobby says in our direction.

They lift me up, one on each side of me, and help me stumble down the stairs into the panic room. They set me down as the room starts to spin, "Ohhh," I groan, "make the room stop moving."

Sam starts to clean the cut on my forehead with a washcloth while Dean picks glass out of my arm. "Wow, you're really a magnet for monsters these days." Dean states with a laugh.

"I'm glad this is amusing for you." I try to act serious but can't hold in my laughter, "This isn't funny, I guess I'm in shock." I laugh harder, "What are the odds of a demon busting through your window?"

"For you, apparently much greater." Sam says, not hiding his worry well.

We can hear Bobby saying the exorcism chant and hear the demon scream in response. The boys finish cleaning me up and I pull my shirt up to assess the damage to my stitches. One or two stitches pulled a little, but the wounds were healing so it wasn't that big of a deal. I use a washcloth to clean up the excess blood and then put a fresh bandage over it.

"Glad all my stitches didn't rip out." I say to Sam who sits to my left.

"Me too, because I didn't want to have to stitch you back up." Sam says. He kisses my forehead and puts his arm around me, while I lean into him.

"Okay, gross." Dean says, "I'm going to go see if Bobby needs any help." He leaves the room, pulling his gun out just in case.

I look up at Sam, "We live a crazy life when a lady throws me across the room and we consider that just a 'day at the office.'"

Sam laughs, "Yeah, but can you imagine doing anything else?" His mind seems to wander then, as he thinks about what his life could be like without hunting. I grab his hand and he looks over at me.

"I like being able to touch you like this." I smile at him.

"Me too." He responds before kissing me deeply and passionately.

We hear Dean and Bobby talking upstairs so we decide it's safe to go up now. Sam grabs my hand and helps me climb the stairs; it feels good to hold his hand.


	4. Waiting

**Author Note: This chapter isn't very action packed but I had to get some dialogue out of the way. A lot more action is coming in the next few chapters, so bear with me! Once again, thanks for reading! :)**

The boys and I stay at Bobby's for two weeks while I recover from my various cuts and bruises, but the boys are starting to get restless. They haven't gone this long without hunting in a long time, so they are itching to get back out there. While we are all sitting in the kitchen eating some lunch Bobby gets a call from one of his hunting buddies. He chats with him for a while, but they eventually say their goodbyes.

"What's up Bobby?" Dean asks, excitement in his voice.

Bobby sets the phone down, "That was Mike, he just caught wind of a Poltergeist terrorizing a family in Minnesota, but he can't take care of it because he has a different job to do." Sam and Dean both perk up at this, "Asked me if I wanted it but you guys could take it instead."

They both look at me really quick when they think I'm not looking.

I look up at them, "Guys. I'm fine, go hunt this thing. I'm not going anywhere." I try not to feel too disappointed that I'm not well enough to go with them.

"Are you sure?" Sam asks me with a worried look on his face

I smile at him, "Yeah, you guys need to be out there saving people, it's what you do best."

They immediately get up and start getting their stuff together, it's going to be a long drive, so they would have to leave soon. I get up and help Bobby clean up the dishes before heading upstairs to the bedrooms. I hold my side as I climb the stairs; the wounds are healing but they are still extremely sore. I walk into the bedroom and sit on the bed, so I can watch Sam pack.

Sam glances over at me and grabs my hand, "It's going to be weird being away from you. We haven't spent more than a few hours apart in over a year." His thumb traces circles on the back of my hand.

I look at our hands instead of his face because I know I would cry if I looked at him, "I know, it's going to suck."

I fake pout and he laughs, "You're too much." He lifts my chin and kisses me softly.

"Ew!" Dean exclaims when he walks into the room, "Close the door next time jeez."

I roll my eyes at him, "Are you guys leaving now?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I think we can make it there by nightfall if we leave now." Dean grabs some of their bags and heads down the stairs.

Sam smiles at me, grabs my hand and we follow him down the stairs. We walk outside and join Dean and Bobby next to the Impala. Sam goes to put his bag inside and I turn towards Dean.

I give him a hug, "Please be careful, I think we've had enough hospital visits for a while."

He chuckles, "You got it kiddo, we'll be back before you know it."

He gives Bobby a hug and then hops into the car. Sam walks over and gives Bobby a hug before turning towards me.

"I'll send you updates and let you know if we need anything looked up." He wraps me in a big hug, making sure not to squeeze my side that has the stitches in it. He gets into the car and rolls the window down, so he can wave to us.

I stand back with Bobby and wave to them, "Hurry back!" I say, trying to hide the worry that was building inside of me.

Bobby puts his arm around my shoulder as the Impala turns out of his yard, "They'll be back soon don't worry."

I nod my head and walk back inside. The next two days pass by so slowly. I try to pass the time by cleaning Bobby's house, but I can only do so much before my stitches start to hurt and I have to stop. I try not to worry about Sam and Dean because they are the best hunters I've ever met, but my mind continues to drift to the worst-case scenarios. The best part of my day is when Sam sends me little updates about what they are doing and how close they are to finishing the job. Today, he sends me a picture of him in his suit before they leave to dig up some information on the history of the affected house. This puts a smile on my face, I can't wait to see him again.

Later that evening, he calls me with an update, "Hey Maddy, we found out who was haunting the house and we successfully salted and burned them."

Happiness flows through me, "That's great! And neither of you got hurt?"

"Maybe a couple of bruises but nothing major." It sounds like he is smiling.

Relief washes over me, "So are you guys hitting the road now!?" excitement creeps into my tone

"No, we have some stuff to pack up, so I think we are going to wait until morning to head out."

"Oh..." I try to not sound too disappointed, "That makes sense, you guys must be exhausted."

"I can't wait to see you though, we'll be home soon."

We chat a little bit longer but then he has to hang up, so he can pack up his bags. I stay up late that night watching TV with Bobby. Eventually Bobby starts to fall asleep, so he heads off the bed. I was watching a cooking show, but I must have fallen asleep because next thing I know I am jolted awake by a noise coming from outside. I put my shoes on and grab my gun from the coffee table. I cock the gun and slowly open the back door. I turn the corner quickly pointing my gun at whoever/whatever is in Bobby's backyard. However, it isn't an intruder, I find myself pointing the gun at Dean.

"Hey!", he yells, "It's just me!"

I lower the gun and clutch my chest, "Jesus! You scared the crap out of me! I thought you were an intruder, why are you lurking around out here!"

He laughs, "We didn't want to wake you guys up!"

I put the gun in my waistband and pull him in for a hug, "Glad to see you back in one piece."

He walks inside, and I make my way to the car to find Sam. He is leaning inside the backseat pulling bags out. I hug him from behind and he quickly spins around so he can give me a real hug.

He pulls me in for a kiss that makes my head spin, "I've been thinking about this moment the whole drive." He chuckles.

"Wow, you should go away more often that was amazing." I feel so happy being in his arms again, "But also never go away again that was horrible."

"I'm so glad we decided to come home tonight, this is worth the sleep deprivation." He grabs my hand and we walk inside. The house instantly feels better now that Sam and Dean are back, and I feel that I can finally relax. We go upstairs, and Sam takes a shower while I craw into bed. Before I fall asleep I feel Sam crawl into bed and he puts his arms around me, I flip over so that I am looking at him. Thoughts are running wild in my head, but I can't decide if I should say them out loud. I decide to be brave and hope that it doesn't backfire.

Sam looks at me, "I can feel your heart beating so fast, what are you thinking about?"

I take a deep breath, "We've only been dating for a couple weeks, but we've known each other for over a year now. Being away from you for a couple days has made me realize some things."

Sam looks a little nervous, "Yeah…?"

I smile up at him, "Well, I think that I- that I love you."

He sits up in the bed and smiles, "Say it again."

"I love you Sam Winchester." I can't contain my smile

He grabs my face and kisses me hard, "I love you too Maddy."

I hug him as hard as my stitches allow me, thinking about how this is the best night of my life.


	5. Son of a Witch

Another week comes and goes, and my cuts are almost completely healed. The stitches were finally removed, and my side doesn't hurt every single time I move an inch. We decide it's time to move on from Bobby's and continue our hunting. We pack up our bags and head for the car while Bobby fills us in on a potential hunt.

"A buddy of mine called with a possible hunt for you three." He starts, "Thinks a witch might be killing people in a small town in Wyoming."

"Ugh," Dean says, "I hate witches. Why does he think it's a witch?"

"People are dyin' strange, drowning in their sinks, choking for no reason, yada yada yada…" He grabs my bag from me and puts it in the trunk. He puts his hands on my shoulders, "Are you sure you're ready to be back in the action?"

I smile at him, "Yeah, I'm ready to get back out there. I've been laying around the house for too long. If I don't feel up to it I'll hang back, okay?"

He nods, "Now, you three don't be strangers. Come visit every once in a while, it'll be quiet around here without you."

We each give him a hug and get into the car, waving at him as we leave. I sit in the middle of the back seat and smile to myself as we cruise down the highway.

Dean glances in the rearview mirror, "What are you smiling about back there?"

I meet his glance in the mirror, "It feels good to be back in this car riding down the road with you guys, I didn't realize how much I missed it." I see a small smile stretch across his face.

We finally roll into Laramie, Wyoming and drive around scouting out the area, looking for any signs of a witch's presence. A motel's vacancy sign flashes at us from across the street, so we decide to turn in for the night and start fresh in the morning. The long drive wore us all out, so we fall asleep fast.

I wake up in the morning to Sam and Dean chatting at the small table by the window. Sam looks over at me and smiles, raising a coffee cup towards me. I crawl out of bed and grab the cup, "Thanks. Did you guys find anything useful about this witch?"

Dean passes a stack of papers over to me, "The two victims were both male and lived on the same block, but we don't really know how else they are connected, if they are connected." He takes a sip of his coffee, "I think we should go visit the wives and see what they can tell us."

Three people tends to look suspicious when the "authorities" come knocking on your door, so I stay back at the motel to continue researching the deceased men while Sam and Dean talk to the wives. However, I can't find any connections between them. I'm just starting to get frustrated when Sam and Dean walk through the door.

I stand up, "Hey, did you guys get anything useful out of the wives?"

Sam kisses me on the cheek, "Yeah, it turns out they are both part of a book club that meets each week. They seemed pretty nonchalant about their husband's deaths; both seemed pretty suspicious."

"Yeah," Dean says, "The first one was pretty jumpy when we asked if he had any enemies, or if she knew of anyone that might want her husband dead."

I try to figure out what could possibly be going on, "So are we going to crash the book club, or what?"

Dean smiles, "That's exactly what we're going to do, apparently they meet tonight." He shows me the flyer that he found stapled to a phone pole.

I scan the page, "Book club and more, bring your problems and we will sort them out…?" I look up at them, "Well that doesn't sound sketchy at all, wonder what the 'more' is."

We set out for the house where the book club is being held. We decide that I will go in alone since the boys would be noticed, and the fact that only women go to this book club. Sam rolls down the window as I get out of the car, "Be careful." He whispers. I wink at him as I walk away.

I knock on the door and a tall blonde opens it, "Hi, are you here for the book club?" she asks.

I try to be as naïve and cheerful as possible, "Yes, my name's Ruth, I recently moved in a few streets over and saw the flyer yesterday. Thought I might stop by to meet some new people."

The woman smiles, "Excellent! We always welcome new people. I'm Liane, come on in we were just about to get started."

I walk inside and am shocked to see alters in plain sight, with pictures of various men. My face must give away my shock but Liane just chuckles, "Don't worry hun, I'll explain everything in a second. We have some other newbies with us today too."

I join a few other shocked women on the nearby couch. None of the other women speaks to me as I sit down; probably out of fear. Sitting next to Liane are the two wives whose husbands just died, their eyes beaming as they look up at Liane.

Liane clears her throat, "Welcome ladies, as you may have already realized, this is not your ordinary book club. I allow you to express your problems to me, and then I solve them for you." She smiles at the two women next to her, "These two women had cheating husbands, but I took care of them. They won't be cheating anymore."

I don't know what to say so I just stay silent, along with the women sitting next to me. Liane continues, "The problems can be big or small, life or death. There's nothing I can't fix." A wicked smile creeps onto her face, "However, if you breathe a word of this to anybody, I will know, and you will be dealt with. I have lots of friends who will seek revenge on my behalf." She laughs at our shocked expressions, "But! There's no need to worry, I'll try to avoid hurting you."

I glance around the room and notice an alter with pictures of the two dead men. This woman is psycho!

She chats with the other women and listens to their stories, but after 30 minutes she decides that the meeting is over and ushers us to the door, "I think that's enough information for one week. Come back next week with your problems and we will fix them!" She gives us big smiles as she pushes us out of the door. The other women and I look at each other in shock and then go our separate ways. I walk, dazed, back to the car where Sam and Dean are waiting and get into the back seat.

They start to speak but I hold up a finger to tell them to wait, I need to process what just happened.

"That was the weirdest thing that has ever happened to me." Is all I can manage to say.

We make it back to the motel room and the second I sit down they are bombarding me with questions,

"What happened?"

"Did she do something to you?"

"Is she the witch?"

"Did she kill the husbands?"

I spill and tell them everything that transpired in the house; the alters, the threats, the promises, everything. Sam and Dean sit in stunned silence.

Dean is the first to break the silence, "She's just doing this out in the open? Either she's super powerful, or just plain stupid." Sam nods his head in agreement.

We leave the motel to do some research on witches, and find some perfect witch killing spells. We go back to the motel to gather some supplies before heading back to Liane's house. Sam holds my hand as we walk inside, but suddenly, he grabs his stomach in pain.

"Sam? Are you alright?" I ask, grabbing his shoulders and steering him towards the bed.

He gasps, "M-my stomach, some-something's wrong," is all he manages to get out before he's coughing up blood onto the motel comforter.

"Sam!" I shriek, "Dean! Get in here, help!"

Dean comes running in from outside, "What's happening!"

My mind starts to race but something Liane said comes to my mind, "if you breathe a word of this to anybody, I will know, and you will be dealt with…", I gasp, "I think it's Liane! She must have placed a hex bag in here after we left because I told you guys about her killing spree!"

As Sam gasps and coughs up blood, Dean and I search the motel room for a hex bag. I frantically search the bathroom but find nothing. I glance at Sam every few seconds to check on him, tears streaming down my face. Dean cuts up the pillows and dumps out the contents but still finds nothing. I pull the drawers out of the end table and a hex bag falls to the floor.

I yell, "Dean! Quick! Your lighter!"

He runs over and lights the bag on fire as I rush over to Sam, "Sam, Sammy! It should be over, say something, please, anything!" I cry as his head lolls to the side. I grab it in both my hands, willing him to wake up. His eyes start to flutter open and he groans, "I'm okay."

I hug him to me and Dean pats his shoulder saying, "That was a close one, I think we're dealing with a pretty nasty witch."

Sam heads to the bathroom to take a shower and get cleaned up while I pull the sheets off the bed and ball them up with shaking hands. Dean takes the sheets from me and throws them into the corner, before coming back to stand in front of me. He grabs my shaking hands, "How's that for getting back into the action?" He gives a soft laugh, but I could tell he was a little freaked out too. He hugs me to him and my breathing slows down. I look up at him, "Let's kill this evil bitch."

We pull up to her house and through the window we can see her sitting on her couch. We walk up to the front door and Dean kicks it in, sending splinters of wood throughout the house. We start flipping over alters as Liane comes running towards us, "Leave my alters alone!" She screams, using her powers to throw us all against the opposite wall. Sam and Dean get up and I pretend to be unconscious so that I can pull the spell items out of my pocket and dump them into the small bowl from the alter.

They boys try to distract her so that I can finish what I am doing. I light the contents of the bowl on fire and shout, "Now!" to Sam and Dean. Sam starts to chant the witch killing spell while Dean holds Liane down.

She screams at me, "No! You'll regret this Ruth, or whatever your name is! My fellow witches will hunt you down and make you suffer, mark my words!" but that was all she got to say as the spell is finished and she falls to the floor.

I notice Sam's alter over by the fireplace, with a picture taken from a security camera sitting upon the alter. I take the picture and put it in my pocket, then overturn the alter and all of its contents. We clean up any potential fingerprints or other evidence of our presence and leave the house.

Dean speaks up, "Do you think the other wives were learning to be witches too?"

I look at him over the top of the Impala, "I don't think so, she kept saying "I'll help you, I'll do it, blah blah blah. I think the other women were just seeking help."

He nods as we get in, "I guess we'll find out sooner or later, when they come after you, "mark my words" oooooo spooky!"

I punch him in the shoulder, "Shut up." I say, trying not to show my panic about what she said.

We get back to the motel and Dean goes inside to shower, but Sam and I linger by the car. He pushes my hair behind my ear, takes my hand and kisses it lightly.

He says, "I can tell that you're worried about what she said."

I sigh, "How can you tell?"

He touches between my eyebrows, "You get a little crease here when you worry about things. I've always noticed it."

I shrug, not really answering his question. Then I wrap my arms around him under his jacket, so I can be extra close to him, "I thought you were going to die, that would have really sucked."

He laughs and kisses the top of my head, "Nope, you're stuck with me for a little while longer."

I smile up at him and give him a quick kiss. We walk inside to get some much-needed sleep before our next hunt, which will hopefully be less stressful than this one.


	6. Nightmares

**Author Note: Thank you guys for reading! This chapter was really fun to write, so I hope you enjoy it! :)**

Sam, Dean and I quietly approach the house that we heard screams from. The lights are on, but we can't see any movement, so we decide it's safe to enter the front door. Once inside, we notice the large amounts of blood that cover the walls and floor.

"How many do you think there are?", I whisper

Dean looks at me, "Two or three at least."

I look at Sam, and with my machete ready we all walk into the kitchen. As soon as we walk in three vampires spring into action, trying to kill us. We all manage to escape our separate fights with minimal cuts and bruises and are just about to leave the house when two more vampires come out of nowhere. They attack Sam and Dean, ripping their throats out while I stand there completely shocked. The boys are killed, and the vampires run out the front door. I walk over to them with tears in my eyes, still not believing what just happened. Then, the world around me starts to disappear.

My eyes fly open and I see the hotel ceiling above me. I look to my left and see Sam sleeping next to me and Dean in the bed next to ours. I wipe the tears from my eyes and try to slow down my breathing because I don't want to wake the boys up. I replay the dream in my head and match it to a vampire hunt we did a few days ago, however, Sam and Dean had killed the vampires before they even got near them. These alternate ending dreams have been going on for about two weeks and I don't know what's wrong with me, why am I seeing the boys die in our past hunts?

I have told neither Sam nor Dean about these weird dreams because I don't want them to worry about me, they have enough to worry about. However, I might need to tell them soon because the dreams are starting to happen when I'm awake. They start with a headache so I'm usually able to excuse myself to the bathroom before they start so that I don't freak the boys out, but they are starting to come on quicker.

Sam's voice breaks my deep thoughts, "What's wrong?"

I look over at him, "Huh?"

He lets out a small laugh and pulls me to him, "You look like you've seen a ghost. What are you thinking about?"

I decide to be somewhat honest, "Just a weird dream, no biggie." I give him a weak smile as we hear Dean wake up.

Like always, Dean is starving so we head to a diner that we saw yesterday. Sam is looking for cases online while Dean eats the biggest pile of bacon I have ever seen. I reach across the table to steal a piece of bacon, and before Dean can protest I slide a piece of my toast over to him as a peace offering. He smiles and grabs the toast. Sam starts to tell us about a possible case, but I can't focus on what he's saying because the pre-vision headache is starting to creep up on me. Quickly, I asses my surroundings and decide the bathroom is my best escape zone but a woman gets up and walks over to it. I panic and say the first thing that comes to mind.

While Sam is in mid-sentence I half shout, "I'm going to get my jacket from the car it's kind of cold in here."

Before either of them can respond I'm jumping out of the booth and power walking out of the restaurant. I thought I could make it to the car, but the vision starts to take hold and the breath is knocked out of me. I try to get behind another car, but the vision takes hold and I fall to the ground. My knees hit first and then I push my palms to the ground to try and keep from passing out. Images flash in my head of our hunt from two days ago, the spirit we went to kill has cornered Sam and Dean on the balcony and before I can do anything they are pushed over the edge and fall four stories to their deaths. I start to come around when I hear Sam and Dean shouting and rushing towards me.

"Maddy!" Sam shouts just as Dean shouts "What the hell happened!"

My legs still feel like Jell-O so I stay kneeling on the ground, "I'm fine," I try to laugh it off, "Just tripped on the way to the car."

"Like hell you did." Dean says with a worried look on his face, "We watched you stagger out of the diner and then crumple to the ground, now tell us what's happening!"

Sam grabs my arm to help me up, "We know something has been going on with you. You've been mumbling in your sleep and you look scared every time you look at us."

I look up at them with tears in my eyes, "Okay, I'll tell you everything." Some tears slip out onto my cheeks, "I should have told you guys sooner, I was just scared."

They both look as if they were going to speak, but I stop them, "Let's just go back to the hotel room so no one overhears."

We reach the hotel room and I walk inside to sit on the bed, attempting to avoid the subject as long as possible. However, Sam and Dean are too impatient.

"Explain." Dean says as they sit on the bed across from me.

I take a deep breath and look at the floor, "Okay. For the past week or so I have been having these weird nightmarish dreams about our hunts. Not just normal nightmares, they are like alternate endings to our hunts. They are our actual past hunts and they always start exactly like it happened, but the endings are always you two dying instead of killing the monster. They have just recently started to happen when I'm awake, I don't know what to do." The tears are flowing freely now, and I am afraid to look up at the boys.

"A whole week!" They say in unison.

I look up and Dean says, "You've been suffering with this for a whole week and you haven't said anything!"

Sam looks at me with worried eyes, "We could have been working to figure out what's happening, why would you wait to tell us?"

I wipe my eyes with my jacket sleeve, "I didn't want you guys to worry about my weirdo visions, our job is stressful enough."

Sam gets up and sits next to me, wrapping his arms around me. For whatever reason, this make me cry harder because they are already worrying more than they need to.

I take a deep breath, "It's fine really, I can handle it, I'll be okay." I give them a weak smile but from their expressions I can tell that they aren't buying it.

"How many times have you seen us die?" Sam asks.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe ten or eleven times…" I respond.

Dean takes a sharp intake of breath, "No wonder you've been looking at us like we might drop dead at any second."

The brothers look at each other and seem to have a mutual thought.

"Don't worry, we will figure out what's happening, and we will fix it." Dean says to me as he pats my hand.

I don't trust my voice, so I just nod, and relief washes over me as I think of my life without these horrible dreams and visions.


	7. Dead Bodies

**Author Note: This story line has been really fun to write, let me know if there is anything you want me to include in the stories! :)**

I wake to the sound of voices, but I stay still with my eyes closed so I can eavesdrop a little. It sounds like Sam and Dean are sitting at the table, talking in low voices; probably trying not to wake me.

"I can't believe she kept this a secret for so long." Dean sighs

Sam lets out a breath, "Seeing us die over and over again must be so hard, I can't even imagine seeing either or you die even once."

"Well," Dean says, "She's strong Sammy, hell of a lot stronger than either of us." He chuckles a little, "Has to be strong to put up with your ugly face."

It sounds like Sam punches dean in the shoulder, "Shut up Jerk."

They lapse into silence, so I decide that it's time to 'wake up', I roll over and open my eyes. They both turn to me with the same guilty look on their faces, hoping I didn't hear what they were talking about. Sam comes over and kisses me on the forehead before heading into the bathroom to shower. Dean gets up and grabs his jacket, "I'm heading out for some coffee, do you need anything?"

I sit up, "Do you mind if I run out to get it? I think walking will help clear my head up a little."

He considers my offer and looks like he's going to refuse but caves at the last second, "Fine, if anything happens give me a call and I'll come pick you up."

I nod as I slip my jeans on, grab my wallet and head out the door. The cold air feels nice on my skin as I walk around the block to the coffee shop we saw yesterday. I walk in the door and the smell of coffee instantly wakes me up. I go up to the counter where a young man is standing behind the register.

"Hi, what can I get started for you?" He asks, looking me up and down.

"Hey, I'll take three straight up black coffees please." I say as I pull some money out of my wallet.

"Do you think I can get your number along with this order?" He asks with a nervous look on his face.

I smile at him, "I would, if one of these coffees wasn't for my boyfriend." I laugh at his embarrassed expression.

He laughs nervously, "Sorry, I'll get those coffees for you."

He hands me the coffees and after grabbing some sugars I put a few extra bills in his tip jar for his troubles. He thanks me, and I head back to the motel. I balance the to go carrier in one hand as I unlock the door with the other. I'm watching the coffees as I open the door, trying not to spill them.

I laugh, "The dude at the coffee shop was totally trying to get my number, you might have some competition S-Sam…" My voice falters as I finally look up and see Dean lying face down on the floor.

I drop the coffees and they splash all over the floor and walls, and run over to Dean, "Dean! Oh my god, are you okay!"

I roll him over and see that he has bullet wounds through his chest, caked with dried blood. Tears are streaming down my face, "No, no this can't be real. I was gone for like two seconds! I'm having another nightmare. I just have to wake up. You have to wake up, Dean, please." I look over at the bathroom and see a boot peeking out from behind the door. I can barely see because of the tears as I walk over to the bathroom. I push the door open and let out a sob. Sam is slumped against the bath tub with the same gun shot wounds. I can't bear to look at either of them, I walk into the corner of the room and sink down to the floor, too shocked to cry.

'This can't be real', is all I can think, but my visions are usually over by now. Also, they have never been about anything other than our hunts. Fresh tears spill over onto my cheeks as I realize that this must be real life. The two most important men in my life are lying dead, feet from me. I mutter to myself, "I can't go on without you two, I don't know how to be alone anymore."

I put my head between my knees and let my tears soak into my jeans, but suddenly I hear a distant, "Maddy! Snap out of it!", "Can you hear me!"

The voices start to get louder and when I raise my head from my knees I see Sam and Dean kneeling in front of me. I look over where Dean was just lying but there is nothing there, no blood, nothing. Fresh tears well up in my eyes, "Wh-what you were just- you were just d-dead." I look between both of them.

Dean looks terrified, "What happened! You came in here all happy talking about being hit on and then you started screaming, running around saying 'This isn't real…'"

This makes me burst into tears, "I don't wa-want to be strong anymore, I j-just want it to stop! Make it stop!" I yell, holding my shaking hands against my head.

"Talk to us baby, let us help." Sam says while rubbing my back as the sobs start to subside.

I take a few deep breaths as Sam helps me up and steers me towards the chair.

I wipe my eyes and look at their terrified faces, "I walked in here and Dean was lying face down over there," I point to the carpet, "And Sam was lying dead in the bathroom." The boys give each other worried looks. I put my head in my hands, "What's happening to me, now they aren't alternate endings of our hunts, they are full blown hallucinations. I'm going crazy!"

Dean says, "You aren't going crazy, we just have to figure out who or what is doing this to you." He starts muttering things to himself and flipping through their dad's old journal trying to find anything that matches my struggles.

Sam kneels down so that we are eye to eye, he wipes the tears from my eyes and tries to smooth the crease between my eyebrows, "It's alright, we are going to figure this out. Take some deep breaths, stop worrying." I start to relax a little, but I can't stop seeing their dead bodies splayed across the motel room. I look away from the place where dead Dean was laying, and instead look at Sam.

"It felt so real," I whisper, "It's like someone is inside my head, pulling out my worst nightmares and making them reality."

After these words come out of my mouth a thought pops into my head. "Liane…" I say.

Sam and Dean both look at me, "What? Who?" Dean says.

"Liane." I start again. "That witch we killed. She said her companion witches would come for me and make me suffer." I start to panic, "What if they finally found me, and now they are using witchcraft to make me go crazy!"

I expect Dean to deny my thoughts but instead he just says, "Son of a bitch." And sits down on the bed.

We tear the room apart and find five different hex bags scattered throughout my belongings, and one very powerful bag hidden in the room; the one to trigger my hallucination. We light a fire in our motel trash can and throw the hex bags into it.

I stare into the fire, "What do we do now? We can't out run these witches forever. Obviously, they are pretty powerful."

Sam takes my hand, "I don't know. Maybe we should go back to Bobby's for some back up. He has lots of witchcraft books that could help us make protective talismans to help you before we find these witches."

I tuck myself into his side and press my face into his shirt, "Okay."

"Do I really have some competition out there?" Sam asks, looking down at me.

I manage a laugh, "Of course not." And I reach up to give him a quick kiss.

Dean rolls his eyes, and we pack up the car to once again head for the sanctuary that is Bobby Singer's salvage yard.


	8. Heads Will Roll

**Author Note: This particular storyline is coming to an end, so let me know what other adventures you want Maddy to go on with the Winchesters! :)**

I sit in the back seat of the Impala and rest my head against the window, watching the trees blur as we fly across the highway to Bobby's house. I replay all of the events of the last 30 hours in my head, wincing as I remember the dead bodies of Sam and Dean. I must have fallen asleep because I wake up to Sam lightly shaking my shoulder, "Maddy, we made it to Bobby's."

I'm relieved to have slept soundlessly, with no visions or Winchester deaths. I get out of the car and stretch my arms over my head before grabbing my bag out of the backseat. When I turn around, Bobby is waiting in the doorway for us. I walk over to him and he takes my bag from me. "Hi, darlin'", he smiles, enveloping me in a big hug, "Nice to see you."

I give him a weak smile, "Nice to see you too Bobby."

I walk past him into the house while he goes out to the car to help Sam and Dean with the rest of our things. Even though I slept the entire drive, I still feel exhausted. Maybe it's mental or emotional exhaustion, I'm not sure, but the couch looks particularly inviting. I lay down and stare at the opposite wall in an attempt to distract myself from the images I've been tortured with. My eyes start to droop and soon I feel Sam pulling a blanket over me. I grab his hand before he walks away and sit up a little, so he can sit on the couch with me.

I lean into him, breathing in his scent, "I love you Sam, sorry if I've been a little distant today. I think I'm just… drained, I guess is a good word to describe it."

He cradles my head with his hand and rubs his thumb across my cheek, "I love you too. I can't even imagine what this is doing to you. I'm here for you, whatever you need." He kisses me on the forehead and pulls the blanket up around me, "Get some rest, we'll start researching this tomorrow."

My eyes are already closing, so I don't try and get him to stay with me. I feel him get off the couch and then walk into the kitchen where I hear beer bottles being opened.

Bobby is the first to speak, "Okay, now that we are face to face, what the hell is going on with her?"

Sam and Dean explain everything that has been happening with me. Bobby gasps when they describe what I saw in the hotel room, "No one, not even someone as brave as her, should be subjected to that. We need to hunt down these witches and kill those evil sons of bitches."

I faintly hear bottles clanging together as they silently agree to help me, but my mind starts to go blank as sleep takes hold of me.

I wake to the sounds of birds chirping outside the living room window, thankful for another dreamless sleep. I sit up, stifling a yawn, and then walk into the kitchen in search of some food. I'm surprised by the fact that no one is anywhere to be seen. "Sam?", I call, "Dean? Bobby?"

My appetite is forgotten, and I walk outside to see if they are out there but it's just junk cars for as far as the eye can see. I walk around the house, listening for any signs of life. I start to panic a little, what if the witches came here and abducted everyone? I try to calm my breathing as I circle back to the kitchen, but I stop short when I get there. Sam, Dean and Bobby are all sitting at the little table, completely silent. They look weird, too stiff and too pale. I try to be as brave as possible and walk over to where Bobby is sitting. I put my hand on his shoulder and give him a small shake. As soon as his body moves though, his head topples off his body and hits the floor, making me realize that they have been decapitated and put back together.

I give a small scream and jump back, jostling the table as I go. This causes Sam and Dean to lose their heads as well. I feel as if I'm going to either throw up or pass out as I back out of the kitchen and into the living room. As I back up, I trip over the coffee table and fall to the ground. I continue to inch backward until my back hits to sofa.

I take some deep breaths and realize what's happening, "This isn't real, this isn't real…" I chant to myself. I close my eyes tightly, "Please let this hallucination pass, please. I can't do this anymore." The kitchen door slams open and I look over to see Sam, Dean and Bobby, with guns drawn.

I get up shakily and join them in the kitchen.

"We heard screams, what happened!?" Dean asks, looking at my pale face and wobbling legs.

Sam hurries over to me before I fall and helps me sit down, "It happened again didn't it?" he asks as he sits in the chair where his lifeless body was just sitting.

I nod and look past him out the window where I see a man peeking out from behind one of the broken-down cars. I gasp, "Look! Out there! There's a guy behind that car!"

Dean turns quick and looks at the man, "Got you, you son of a bitch." He sprints outside, running after the man. Bobby runs after him while Sam stays with me, to make sure no one else is lurking around.

He turns to look at me with sad eyes, "What did you see? How did you know it wasn't real?"

"You three, sitting here," I point to the table, "completely decapitated." Sam shudders but I keep talking, "I came in here and no one was here but when I came back, here you three were." I breath in deeply, "I didn't know for sure, but I just kept telling myself it wasn't real. I went into the other room, hoping it would pass soon."

Before we can talk anymore, Dean and Bobby come bursting through the door. "He got away, but not before dropping this." Dean says, tossing a small book onto the table.

"Nothing useful in it," Bobby says, "but we might be able to use it in a tracking spell."

I perk up a little after he says this, "Do you really think that could work?" I ask, hope flooding into my voice.

He smiles, "I think so, let me get some stuff together."

He leaves the kitchen and walks over to his bookshelves. I smile at Sam who looks lost in thought and then look over at Dean, who has a funny look on his face. I know he wants to ask me how they died but doesn't want to make me think about it again.

"Decapitation." I say to him.

He looks startled, "What?"

I laugh a little, "That's how you died. I could tell you wanted to ask."

He smiles, "You know me too well. That seems like a hell of a way to get ganked."

"Trust me, it was horrible." I say, grabbing Sam's hand, "Can we move to the living room? I don't really want to sit at your guys' fake murder scene anymore."

We all move to the living room and watch Bobby mix things together in a large bowl. He sets up a map with an odd pendulum sitting over it. "Okay," he says, "It's ready, hand me the book."

I hand him the little black book and take a step back, feeling Sam's arm wrap around me. This comforts me, and I wrap my arm around him too. Bobby sets the book into the bowl with the other ingredients and starts chanting in Latin, finishing off the chant by lighting the bowl on fire. It flashes purple, and we all hold our breaths as the pendulum starts to swing around the map. It starts to slow, finally stopping over Rock Springs, Wyoming.

"Wyoming, again?" I say, "Guess Liane didn't stray too far from her original coven."

We all stare at the map, silently hoping the same thing; that this is where all my torture ends.


	9. Sweet Sweet Relief

We tracked the witches to an exact address and as we pull into town I start to get nervous. My mind starts going a mile a minute: What if we can't stop them? What if this is leading up to me seeing the boys actually die? I can't stop these thoughts from entering my mind, but I try my best to ignore them. I touch the anti-witch talisman that hangs around my neck, which Bobby said might help me, but he wasn't sure.

I go over the plan we made at Bobby's countless times in my head,

"Okay," Dean said as we all sat at Bobby's table, "I think Maddy and I should go in through the front and distract the witches while Sam and Bobby get the spells ready outside."

Sam looks at me with pleading eyes, "Maddy's the one they want, what's going to stop them from killing her on the spot?"

I reach over and squeeze Sam's hand reassuringly, "They'll just use the visions against me if they find me doing spells outside."

Sam looks defeated because he knows it's true, he sighs and squeezes my hand back, "I don't like it, but I trust you."

Bobby stands up, "Okay then, it's settled. We should leave right away."

As I sit in the back of the Impala, I reach over and examine the witch killing 'bombs' that Bobby made. He tweaked the spell and made these bottles that, once the incantation is read, you can throw at the witches to instantly kill them. I turn my attention away from them and back to the road as we pull off the main street and into a quiet neighborhood.

"Alright," Sam says, "The house is just ahead so we should go on foot now."

The four of us stealthily approach the house and we recognize the man from Bobby's house through the window. He appears to be arguing with a woman, we hear snippets of their conversation.

The woman points her finger at the man, "I can't believe that you got yourself seen!" she screams.

He takes a step back, "I had to make sure the spell was working on the girl."

She lets out a frustrated sound, "We should have killed her ages ago."

I tense at these words, but fear doesn't run through me, anger does. I look at the others, "Let's get this over with."

As we take our positions, Sam locks eyes with me and without saying a word I understand what he's saying, "Be careful."

I smile at him and mouth, "I love you." And then Dean and I kick down the door and run inside. There are four witches sitting inside the house, including the man and woman who we saw arguing.

The woman narrows her eyes at me, "How _dare_ you come into our house!" She waves her hand and sends Dean flying across the room and through the dining room table.

I clench my fists, "I'm the one you want, I finished off the spell that killed your precious murderer Liane."

The woman lets out an angry scream, "Don't ever say her name!" She whispers a spell under her breath and everyone around me suddenly disappears. I look around confused, but realize I am in one of the hallucinations when the bodies of Sam, Dean and Bobby appear around me. They have been killed in every way imaginable and it's hard to look anywhere without seeing their lifeless eyes.

I grab the talisman that hangs around my neck and close my eyes shouting, "Enough!" and when I open my eyes again I'm back in reality. The woman looks shocked but regains her composure as she throws me against the opposite wall. All of the witches crowd around me and start chanting together. Pain pierces through my head and I grab it, screaming into the carpeted floor. The window next to us explodes inward before the witches can finish their spell and Sam and Bobby climb through it. Bobby lights his first bottle and throws it at the closest witch as I roll away to safety. Two more bottles fly, hitting their targets and killing the witches instantly. The woman is the only one who remains, and she backs away from us and into the wall behind her.

I get up and grab the spell bowl from Bobby as I walk towards her. I look her dead in the eyes, "We made this potion special for you, so you can tell the other witches who they are dealing with."

She looks at the contents of the bowl and her eyes widen, "No, please!" she pleads, "Don't take my powers! They are all I have!"

I flick my lighter open, producing a flame, "If _anyone_ comes after us again," I say, bringing the lighter closer to the bowl, "I will personally kill them myself, so I suggest you run far away from here and figure out a way to warn the others because we will hunt down every last one of them if we have to."

I light the bowl on fire and the woman lets out an ear-piercing scream as she falls to the ground. When the spell is done she gives us one last glance and runs out the front door to her car, tears streaming down her face. She speeds off down the street and I release the breath I had been holding and slide down on the floor.

"Holy crap!" I say, "That was so scary I thought she was for sure going to kill me before I lit the bowl on fire."

Dean looks down at me with wide eyes, " _You_ were scared!? Good god your little speech was so scary I thought you might kill us all!"

I look up at him and he laughs, "Shut up." I say but can't stop from laughing myself, "I had to scare her out of witchcraft, I don't want more people coming after us!"

Sam pulls me up and hugs me to him, I melt into his embrace and breathe a sigh of relief. "Let's get out of here." Bobby says, "All these alters are giving me the creeps."

We head for the front door. "You don't have to tell me twice." I say, feeling the weight finally lift off of my shoulders because for the first time in almost two weeks, I am finally free of these horrible dreams and hallucinations.

We make it back to Bobby's house. I'm sitting on the couch with Sam's head in my lap, running my fingers through his hair. I can hear Dean and Bobby working on one of the cars outside.

"That feels nice." Sam says, with his eyes closed

Our life can be pretty stressful and busy, so I cherish these moments I have with Sam. I bend down and give him a kiss, "It's nice having some alone time together, we rarely do."

He opens his eyes and looks up at me and reaches up to brush a hand across my cheek, "I love you so much, I'm so glad that we figured out who was causing the hallucinations." His smile fades a little and he becomes more serious, "It was really hard being completely helpless while you lived through your worst nightmares."

I push his hair out of his eyes, "You guys are the only reason I made it through them. If you guys weren't in that motel room to snap me out of it," I think about being trapped in that hallucination and shudder at the thought, "I really don't know what would have happened, it felt so real."

He sits up and I snuggle up next to him, "But," I say, "it's all over with now. We'll just have to wait and see what craziness comes after us next."

He sighs, "Hopefully nothing for a while." Then he laughs, "This has been way too stressful, I think I need a break."

I wrap my arms around him, "I'll do anything, as long as it's with you."

He smiles at me and we lay there on the couch, completely content with just being in each other's company.


	10. A Perfect Life

**Author Note: This chapter is a little longer than others, hope you like it! I didn't want to break this one into two chapters. Thanks for reading! :)**

Dean comes to a stop outside the old abandoned Wheeler Mental Institute, a giant cluster of buildings that has stood abandoned for over fifty years. We have been hunting lots of simple salt and burns for the past month or so. This hunt is out first big job in quite a while, we are all pretty excited to do something other than grave desecration. We've been tracking a Djinn for the past week and discovered that it lures all its victims to this abandoned building.

We all stand around the trunk of the car where Dean hands each of us a silver knife dipped in lamb's blood. "Okay," he says, "let's kill this son of a bitch."

Dean leads the way while Sam brings up the rear. We enter the closest door to us and wander around the halls.

"Jeez," I say, "this place is massive. Where do we even start?"

Sam shakes his head, "I don't know. Maybe we should just head for the center of the building? Maybe we can find a basement or something."

We wander for another five minutes before finally turning down a big hallway that has dozens of doors. Dean walks a little way ahead of us and points his flashlight into a nearby room, "Crap," he says, "There are some dead people in here, blood bags still hanging next to them. Guess we're in the right place."

Sam and I jog to catch up with Dean, he walks into the room and Sam follows him. I stay in the hallway, shining my flashlight around trying to find any sign of the Djinn. I notice some movement further up the hallway, I walk towards it while Sam and Dean scour the room. I get to the end of the hallway and point my flashlight all around, no sign of movement. I hear a door slam behind me and then hear Sam and Dean shouting. I run back to find their door securely shut.

I hear, "Maddy!" muffled on the other side.

"I'm right here, what happened!" I shout as I try to open the door. I hear footsteps nearby and quickly point my flashlight in their direction. I see the Djinn standing at the end of the hallway.

"Ah!" I scream, "Sam! Dean! The Djinn is out here!"

I pull my silver knife out just as he appears in front of me. I try to stab him with the knife, but he grabs my arms and twists it hard, causing me to drop the knife. I can hear Sam and Dean yelling on the other side of the door. He grabs me by the throat and pushes me against the wall, staring at me with his bright blue eyes. He brings his glowing hand towards my forehead. "No!" I yell, but it's useless, he puts his fingertips against my forehead and my mind goes blank.

I'm jolted awake by the sound of a baby crying. Disoriented, I roll over in bed and open my eyes to see the baby monitor on my night stand lighting up as the crying continues. I sit upright in bed and try and gather my thoughts. I can't remember where I am or what I am doing here, wasn't I just running from something? I feel movement next to me and look over to see Sam sprawled out. I reach over a run my hands across his chest, didn't he used to have a tattoo there?

He opens his eyes and smiles at me, "Mornin'," he slurs, still sleepy, "Do you want me to get Amanda, or do you want to?"

Suddenly it all comes back to me, of course, that crying baby is ours, I must be tired still. I try to ignore the feeling of confusion that must be left over from a dream I had last night. I brush my hand across Sam's cheek, "Sorry, I must have had a weird dream. I'll get her, go back to sleep."

He kisses me before rolling over and falling back asleep. I get out of the bed and slip on my robe as I walk down the hall and into the other room. I approach a door decorated with butterflies and push it open, Amanda's cries greet me on the other side. I walk over to her crib and lift her into my arms, crossing the room to sit in the rocking chair. I rock her to soothe her cries and soon she quiets down and starts playing with my hair that hangs in her reach. I stare at her, but I can't shake this feeling of dread, like something bad is happening that I can't quite put my finger on.

I don't know how long I sit with her, but the smell of bacon pulls me from the bedroom and into the kitchen. Sam is standing at the stove in nothing but sweatpants, frying some eggs and bacon in a pan.

I stand in the doorway, Amanda in my arms, and admire him for a few seconds, "You know," I say, "you're kind of hot."

He spins around and gives me a huge grin, "Right back at you." He cups my face in his hand and strokes my cheek with his thumb before kissing me. He smiles at me again, "Getting you as my wife, how did I get so lucky?"

This throws me a little, wife? Yes, of course we're married. What did that weird dream do to me, I'm so confused today.

Sam notices my confused expression, "What's up with you today? You seem far away." He takes Amanda from me and starts feeding her a bottle while I sit down in one of the kitchen island bar stools.

"I'm fine, I think I had a weird dream last night. It's kind of thrown me off today. I feel… disconnected from myself." This is the best way I can describe it to him because I can't even understand it myself.

He just nods his head, "You're probably just stressed about our lunch plans today. It's going to be weird having all of our family members together."

I search my memories and remember that we are having a big family lunch this afternoon. My parents will be there, why do I feel like I haven't seen them in years? Sam's parents too, when was the last time I saw them?

Sam comes over and kisses me on the forehead, "I'll take Amanda to the park for a little bit, why don't you take a relaxing shower and then you can get ready for lunch without a crazy baby distracting you."

Amanda giggles and Sam and I both stare lovingly at her. "Okay," I say, "That sounds nice, thank you."

I ignore the weird feelings I'm having and get ready for lunch. Sam returns, and the three of us head to the restaurant. We're running a little late, so everyone is already there when we finally get to the table. Dean is the first to get up, he hugs Sam, "Nice to see you little bro." He turns to me, as I hold Amanda, "Maddy, you look gorgeous as usual." He pulls me in for a hug and then immediately turns to Amanda, "Did you miss your uncle Dean?" She squirms in my arms and reaches for him, so I relinquish her, and they go back to the table.

I turn to look at my parents and a sadness washes over me as a memory of their funeral flashes through my mind. Didn't they die in a hunting accident? I hug each of them and then turn to Sam's parents. Have I ever met them, I don't really recognize them? We all sit down, but I can't focus on what Sam is asking them. After a few minutes I look at Dean sitting next to me, weren't we just on a hunting trip together? "Dean," I say, watching him bounce Amanda on his knee, "when did we last see each other?"

He thinks for a minute, "I think it was two or three months ago, you guys have been pretty busy with this one." He points at Amanda and she grabs his finger. My heart pulls a little, this little girl is the best parts of me and Sam, physical proof of how much Sam and I love each other.

Another memory seems to flash through my mind, we were hunting something, but we got split up. "What were we hunting, I can't seem to remember?" I ask, thinking about how weird it is not being on the road.

Everyone looks over at me as I ask this, each wearing the same expression of confusion. "Hunting?" Dean says, "What do you mean? We don't go hunting. We don't even own any guns."

Sam touches my back and I turn towards him, "Does this have to do with your weird dream Mad? I think it's affecting your memory." He looks at me with concern.

I stammer, "N-no, we used to hunt things. I-I can't remember clearly." I look over at my parents and I can clearly see their funeral pyre, I can smell the wood burning as I gave them a proper hunter burial. Then, I look over at John and Mary remembering the stories that Sam and Dean told me about them. I start to breathe heavy and push back my chair, so I can stand up. I feel dizzy, something is not right, this is not the Sam and Dean that I know and love.

My mom stands up and grabs my arm, "Honey, you're scaring me, what are you talking about!" I pull my arm out of her grip and back away from the table. They all stand in front of me, trying to persuade me to sit back down. Suddenly I remember everything, the Djinn caught me, and I couldn't get away.

I look around me and find a silver knife at the table next to ours. "Stay away!" I shout, "I know this isn't real, I know about your Djinn mind tricks!"

My fake family loses their worried expressions and they stop trying to get me to sit back down. My mom comes to stand in front of me, "Just give in baby. You can be happy here with us, away from all the hurt that you've been through. You can live the life that deep down you really want."

I take another step back, but I run into a table and can go no further. "No," I whisper, "I'll die, the Djinn will suck me dry and Sam and Dean will be left to deal with my body. I can't do that to them."

I look at the knife in my hand and realize what I have to do. I take one last look at Amanda, at the beautiful child that has Sam's eyes and nose but my mouth and ears. Then I turn to my parents and look at them one last time. I would love to stay here and be with them again, but this is not where I belong. A few tears escape my eyes, "I'm sorry." I say as I turn the knife on myself and plunge it deep into my heart. The pain is only temporary, but soon a different ache spreads throughout my entire body. I gasp, and my eyes flutter open as I take in my surroundings. My hands are fastened to the ceiling and my slumped body pulls against the chains, painfully cutting into my wrists. An IV is connected to my neck, pulling blood into a nearby blood bag. I try to move my legs, but find I am too weak to even lift my head more than a few inches.

I can hear Sam and Dean shouting my name but can only muster a small groan in response. My head starts to droop as the door handle in front of me starts to jiggle.

"Sam!" Dean shouts, "This one is locked, she has to be in here." The door is kicked in and Sam and Dean rush in, each wielding their silver knives.

"Maddy!" Sam shouts, running over to unchain my wrists.

He frees my arms and I fall against his chest, "Took you guys long enough." I slur as he lowers me to the ground, my eyes closing.

Sam and Dean both give a chuckle, but their laughs are cut short as the Djinn appears behind them. I can't seem to open my eyes, they won't cooperate with me. My whole body feels numb, the Djinn took so much of my blood. I hear the grunts of the boys as they fight the Djinn. I wish that I could get up and help them, but I feel like I'm floating. I hear a sharp gasp and then all is quiet. Unconsciousness starts to take hold of me, the last thing I feel is arms under my legs and back as someone picks me up.

"I got you." Sam whispers, kissing my forehead. My head falls against his chest and I fade into the darkness.

I feel a slight pressure on my wrist and realize someone is checking my pulse there. "Your hand is cold." I complain, trying to pull my arm away but it feels like it weighs ten pounds.

I manage to open my eyes and see both Sam and Dean staring down at me.

"What did I miss?" I ask, smiling as I struggle to sit up against the headboard. Dean chuckles and Sam lets out a sigh of relieve. Dean grabs a bottle of water and hands it to me, "Here, you were out cold for a while you should probably drink something."

I take it with shaking hands, "Thanks. So, you guys killed the Djinn I'm assuming?"

Sam sits on the edge of the bed next to me, resting his arm across my legs, "Yeah," he looks at me with a curious stare, "What did you see when the Djinn put you under?"

I look from Sam to Dean and then back at my folded hands resting in my lap, scared to tell them about the life that I actually really enjoyed. I decide that there's no use in keeping the details from them. I look back up at Sam, "I woke up in a beautiful house next to a shirtless you." I wink at him, "We were married with a beautiful daughter." Sam lights up a little at this thought. I smile at him, "She looked just like you. You made me eggs and bacon in the morning before we went out to lunch with – with our parents." Sam and Dean both draw in breaths, no doubt thinking about what it would be like to sit down with their parents again.

I turn my attention to Dean, "You were there too Dean. You couldn't wait to see Amanda." I can't help but smile, "She sat on your lap throughout lunch, you two played with the sugar packets," I laugh, "making towers out of them."

A grin creeps onto Dean's face, "Wow," he breathes, "This sounds like a pretty great life, how did you figure out it was fake?"

I take Sam's hand in mine and stare down at it, tracing the lines on his palm, "Well." I start, "Seeing my parents kind of snapped me out of it. A memory came back to me, of me standing by their pyre that I set up after they were killed."

Sam squeezes my hand, "That must have been hard, I'm sorry."

One tear falls from my eye and I just shrug, "It was actually kind of great, seeing them alive and happy one last time."

I take a deep breath, "After that, all my memories came back to me. You all tried to convince me to stay in that dream world, but I knew that I would die in real life. So, I took a knife from one of the tables and killed myself so that I would wake up."

Dean sits in a chair next to the bed, "When we made it into the room you looked dead. My stomach dropped, I thought we were too late."

Sam stays quiet, but I can see the slight shimmer in his eyes and the way that his adams apple bobs up and down. I wipe the tear from his eye before it can fall and smile at both him and Dean, "You can't kill me off that easy, you're stuck with me!"

Sam softens up a little and kisses my hand, "I sure hope so."

My stomach grumbles and I laugh, "Can we go eat something? This whole ordeal has left me starving."

Dean jumps up, "I was hoping you would say that, I was craving a bacon cheeseburger. I saw a sign for one yesterday"

Sam helps me get up and I smile to myself because we survived yet another hunt with minimal injuries. The alternate life was pretty great, but I can't imagine swapping my current life for anything. Being on the road with Sam and Dean, that's my idea of a perfect life.


	11. Imitation

**Author Note: As always, thank you guys so much for continuing to read! Let me know what other monsters you want Maddy + The Winchesters to fight or any other situation you want to see them in! :)**

"Pleaseee." I beg, but Dean ignores me.

We are cruising down a Nebraska highway; Dean and I sit in the front of the car while Sam naps in the back. We have traveled here because lots of hikers have gone missing. Authorities are saying bear attacks, but no bodies have been recovered. We fear that something supernatural might be lurking in the woods. I've been trying to convince Dean to do some sightseeing for the past thirty minutes.

"Come on," I say, "It's the 'World's Largest Ball of Twine'! Who doesn't want to see that?"

Dean grunts, "It's just a bunch of twine, how exciting could that be? It's like watching Sam try and tame his hair in the morning, no one wants to see that."

I picture Sam in the mornings, standing in front of the motel bathroom, attempting to make his hair lay flat as it sticks up at crazy angles. I smile and whisper to myself, "I don't mind watching that."

Dean rolls his eyes, "Sorry, forgot my audience. A more accurate example would be; watching you and Sam make googly eyes at each other. Definitely no one wants to see that." He points his finger at the back of his throat and makes a gagging sound.

I punch him in the shoulder, "Shup up." I pull him back to the original topic before he can completely change the subject, "I don't understand how you and Sam never stopped to do any sightseeing. You've been all over the country!"

"We've been a bit busy." Dean says, "You know, hunting monsters."

I sigh, realizing I lost my fight for sightseeing. I turn around in my seat and look back at Sam. He has his jacket laid out across his chest as a makeshift blanket, but it has started to slip off. I reach back and pull it up around his neck. He stirs a little but sighs in his sleep and his breathing becomes even again. I can't help but smile to myself, he looks so peaceful while he sleeps. Every time I look at him I fall in love all over again.

I turn back around, and Dean looks at me, "You're good for him, you know. You make him really happy."

I smile at him and as I glance back at the road I notice a woman come running out of the woods in front of our car. "Dean!" I shout and he slams on the brakes, sending Sam flying off the seat behind us. I brace my hands against the dashboard and the car comes to a halt mere inches from the woman.

Dean glances behind him, "Sammy, you okay?"

Sam's head pops up, "Yeah I'm good, what the hell happened?"

The woman comes running up to my window, with tears streaking down her dirt covered face. She raps violently on my window, I roll it down so that we can hear what she is saying.

"Please help me!" She shouts, "My boyfriend and I were attacked by-by a monster or something, I don't know!" She is talking very fast, making it hard to understand what she is saying.

I regain my composure, "What happened?" I ask, "What attacked you?"

She is trembling so hard it looks like she might fall over. I get out of the car, ignoring Sam and Dean's protests. I hold onto her shoulders to try and calm her down, "We can help you just calm down. What's your name?"

Sam and Dean get out of the car as the girl takes some deep breaths and wipes her tears. "I'm Molly," she says and then starts to explain, "My boyfriend and I were camping when we thought we heard someone calling out for help." She takes a shaky breath, "Vance went out to look around and I started to get worried when he didn't return." Fresh tears spring to her eyes, "I went out to look for him and saw him walking back towards me, but he never made it to me because this… this creature came up behind him, grabbed him and disappeared into the trees!"

Dean takes a step closer to us, "What did this thing look like?"

I can see the revulsion pass over her as she remembers its appearance, "It looked almost human, but it was so tall. Taller than anyone I have ever seen. It had these weird teeth." She starts crying again, "It was so scary! I don't know how I got away. My boyfriend, I'm so worried!"

I look back at Sam and Dean and mouth, "Wendigo?"

They both nod their heads in unison. I steer the woman towards the car and help her sit in the back seat. "Okay." I tell her, "Sit tight, we are going to figure out how to get Vance back." She just nods, not really looking at me. I don't think she really heard me, shock must be setting in.

I leave her in the car and walk to the trunk to confer with Sam and Dean about what we should do next. I watch Dean pack his green duffel bag with various items; guns, flare guns, mini flame throwers, etc. Sam looks through the rest of the trunk to make sure we won't need anything else.

"Well," I say, "I've never hunted a Wendigo, but I know you two have, so what do we need to do?"

"I know you know all the lore about them," Dean starts, "so I won't go into detail about that. Shooting it with the flare gun killed it the last time we came across one." He hands me a flare gun, "So, we're going to start with that and if that doesn't work we'll… uh make it up as we go!" he says as he slams the trunk closed.

"I'm coming with you."

I whirl around to see Molly standing behind me, having approached without me hearing. She doesn't look shaken up anymore, instead she looks determined to find her boyfriend.

Dean takes a step forward, "I think it's probably best if you stay he-" he starts to say but the woman interrupts him.

"I don't care what you think, if there is a chance that Vance is alive then I'm coming." She stands her ground. Dean looks at me for help but I just shrug my shoulders.

Dean huffs, "Fine. If you get killed it's your own fault."

Sam looks into the trees, "You came from this way, so I guess we should start looking in this area. Hopefully we can find the Wendigo's lair."

Molly walks between Sam and Dean, asking them all kinds of questions about monsters. I kind of tune them out while I walk a couple feet behind them, looking up at the trees. I make a mental note to talk the boys into going camping sometime, I like being out in nature. I'm too busy looking at the trees, so I don't notice the tree root sticking out of the earth in front of me. I trip, catching myself with my hands, subsequently scratching my palms up.

I shout, "Wait!" but they are too far ahead of me and don't hear me.

"Great." I say while I tie my shoelace that came loose when I tripped. As I'm getting to my feet I hear my own voice shout, "Help me!" to the left of where I stand. I freeze and listen again, convinced that my ears are playing tricks on me. I hear it again and then I hear Sam shout, "Maddy!" and then his footsteps as he runs towards the sound. My stomach drops as I remember that Wendigos can mimic human voices to draw in their victims.

Before I can think about it anymore I start running in the direction of Sam's footfalls, "Sam!" I shout, "It's not me! Stop!". However, I'm too late. I hear Sam shout, "AH!" and then the rustling of the trees above.

I continue running towards the area where I heard Sam and run straight into Dean. I look up to see a frantic expression in his face, "What happened!" he yells.

"I fell behind!" I turn in circles looking for signs of Sam, "It used my voice to lure one of you away!"

The three of us scour the area, looking for any signs of the direction the Wendigo may have gone. I notice some strange marks high up in the trees, "Look!" I shout. "These could possibly lead us straight to its hideout."

Dean immediately starts following the marks, not bothering to look if we are following. We follow the marks for about a mile and a half before it dead ends at the entrance to an old mine shaft looking structure.

"This has to be it." Dean says, "Same sort of place as the last Wendigo we encountered."

We walk down the stairs and into a musty cave type space. I cover my nose, it smells horrible down here and I fear for what we are about to come across. We walk as quietly as possible through the cave passageways, dodging old bones while trying to listen for any kind of movement. We turn a corner and into a larger area where two men stand chained to the ceiling. Sam and Vance droop against their chains, unconscious.

"Vance!" Molly says and rushes over to him. Dean moves behind her to help her loosen the chains.

I run over to Sam and take his head in my hands, lightly patting his cheek to try and wake him up. "Sammy?" I say, "Come on babe open your eyes." He starts to stir, groaning as he lifts his head up a little.

I breathe a sigh of relieve and kiss him quickly, "I can't believe you went running after me with no back up!" I scold him halfheartedly while I free his arms.

He steadies himself and grabs my face with his hand, "I was being a sucky boyfriend, I didn't even notice you weren't behind us!" He frowns and pulls me in for a tight hug, "I'm glad you're okay."

Dean comes up next to us, supporting the weight of Vance, "Let's get out of here."

We head for the exit, but we hear the footsteps of the Wendigo and realize we are going to have to fight our way out. Sam, Dean and I all pull our flare guns out and get into fighting positions. Dean lowers Vance to the ground and Molly holds him upright. The Wendigo appears before us, "Light him up!" Dean yells and we each shoot our flare guns. It dodges the first two flares, but Dean's shot catches it by surprise and it bursts into flames. We jump out of the way and Sam and Dean run over to help lift the dazed Vance up and carry him outside.

"Nice shot!" I yell at Dean and lift my hand for a high-five. He slaps it and we head towards the car.

Vance starts to come around while we walk and, with the help of Molly, starts to weakly walk alongside us.

Sam comes up beside me and takes my hand, smiling at me, "I'm not letting you out of my sight again."

I squeeze his hand and notice a deep cut on his upper arm, "Ouch." I say, "That's probably going to need stitches." I pull him to a stop and kneel down, so I can rummage around in my bag for some bandages. I pull one out and tightly wrap his arm, making him wince.

He pulls me tight against his side as we walk to catch up to the others, "I don't know what I did before you were here to take care of me."

I laugh, "I know right, you guys were probably a nightmare."

We finally make it back to the Impala after walking for a couple hours, the sun is just starting to set. Molly tells us that their car is only a mile or two up the road so we all pile in the car and head towards it. We help Vance into the passenger seat while Molly stands next to the car.

We turn towards her after Vance is buckled in, "I don't know how to thank you guys." she says, "Without you, I think we'd both be dead." She looks at Vance resting in the passenger seat and sighs.

I chuckle, "It's kind of our job. We are always happy to help people." She smiles at me and gives each of us a hug before driving off towards the nearest town.

We also head into town, so we can eat and get a good night's sleep before heading out in the morning. We check into a motel and Dean calls the first shower. I sit Sam on the bed so that I can clean out his wound and stitch it up. I pull up a chair in front of him and start to clean all the dried blood from around the cut. Once I've disinfected it I pull the homemade stitch kit from my bag and start to stitch him up. I can feel him watching me and then he starts to play with my hair that falls across my shoulder.

I look over at him and a smile spreads across my face, "It's hard to concentrate when you do that."

He grins at me, "I can't help it, you look cute when you're concentrating."

Dean flings the bathroom door open and Sam and I pull apart, not realizing we were leaning in towards each other. I finish stitching Sam's arm and put a fresh bandage around it.

Dean clears his throat, "Uhm, well, I'm going to go get some food. I'll be back in a while." He says, not so subtly giving Sam and I some alone time.

I look at Sam and blush a little, "Okay man." Sam says, "We'll join you in a bit."

Dean leaves and Sam looks at me smiles, "I should probably take a shower."

I lean in to kiss him, "A shower sounds nice, I think I'll take one too."

He grabs my hand and leads me into the tiny bathroom. Even after a few months of being together, I can't help but get butterflies every time Sam touches me. I run my hands down Sam's bare chest and push him into the shower.


	12. Happiest Place on Earth

**Author Note: This chapter was soooo fun to write! :) I've always thought about what it would be like for Sam and Dean to do "normal people" stuff. Hopefully you like it as much as I do! Thanks for sticking with me this far! :)**

I'm sitting on the edge of the motel bed flipping through channels on the TV, but there's nothing interesting on, so I just turn it off and flop back on the bed. We are currently in California, where we just finished killing a vengeful spirit who came back to murder his old middle school tormentors. The boy was accidentally killed when the bullies joked with him in the bathroom, giving him swirlies in the toilet. They held him under for too long and he drowned.

I look at my watch, Sam and Dean left over two hours ago saying they had stuff to do and that I wasn't allowed to come. I'm assuming that it has something to do with the fact that my birthday is tomorrow. I try to think about what they could possibly be doing, but I come up with nothing. I'm just about to call Sam when I hear the Impala pull up outside. I rush to the door and fling it open, "Finally!" I say, "I've been waiting here forever, bored out of my mind."

Sam and Dean exchange a look, smiling, like they have a secret between themselves. I narrow my eyes at them, but I know they won't spill the beans, so I don't even ask.

They come inside and sit down at the rickety table that takes up most of our motel room. Sam pulls a gift-wrapped box out of his jacket pocket and sets in on the table. My eyes light up a little, "So you guys _were_ doing birthday shopping, I knew it!"

Dean laughs, "You caught us. So, what do you want to do for your birthday anyway?"

I let out a huff, "You guys know what I want to do, I've only told you about it a thousand times!" neither of them says anything, "I want to go to Disneyland! And now you're torturing me because we are like five hours away from it, but you don't want to go!"

Even though I was raised a hunter, my parents tried to give me a normalish life. They watched Disney movies with me, bought me Disney themed toys if we could find them and on my eighth birthday they pooled their money together and we went to Disneyland for two days. I have a photo of me sitting in front of the Mickey shaped flowers by the entrance to Disneyland. I have the biggest smile on my face because, for once, we were able to leave the world of demons and monsters behind and just live a normal life. There's another photo of me on my dad's shoulders, watching the fireworks. I cherish these happy memories of my family because they are the ones where I got to forget that monsters lurked in the dark, and I got to be a kid.

"Well," Sam says, "it took us a while, but I think we found something that might help your Disney craving."

He slides the present over to me and I pick it up off the table, "I can open it now?" I ask, skeptical about what could be in the box.

I peel back the birthday cake printed paper and rip open the box. Inside are two small frames that are decorated with Disney characters. The frames are the perfect size for my Disney pictures. I'm taken aback by the thoughtfulness of this gift, "Wow, guys, this is actually really nice." I say with tears in my eyes, they know how special these pictures are to me.

"Open them up, let's see how they look inside." Dean says, excitement lighting up his face.

I grab the pictures from my bag and stand next to the table, opening up the first frame. I pull the back off the frame and a small card falls onto the floor. I bend over to pick it up, thinking it's just a part of the frame. I pick up the card and turn it over, reading the front. My heart skips a beat and I read it again out loud, "Disneyland: One day ticket".

My head snaps up and I see Sam and Dean, grinning from ear to ear. I scream, "No way!", tears streaming down my face, then I look back at them, "This isn't a trick, right? These are real?"

They both nod and I scream again, jumping up and down. I pull them in for a group hug, trying and failing to contain my excitement. I look down at the ticket again, thinking about how much fun we are going to have tomorrow.

Sam grabs my hand, "We found a motel on the outskirts of Anaheim to stay tonight, so we can go into Disney early in the morning." He kisses me, "Happy birthday Maddy."

"You've been through a lot these past few months," Dean says, "so we thought you deserved something happy for once."

I wipe my tears with the back of my hand, "You guys are way too nice to me. I feel bad, you never wanted to go to Disney but now I've basically forced you by talking about it non-stop for the past two-ish years I've known you."

Dean laughs, "I'll suck it up if you promise to buy me all the churros that I can eat."

"Deal!" I tell him.

I pick up my newly framed pictures, "Oh you guys, I really don't know what to say. This is the best birthday ever."

The next morning, we pull into the parking lot and Dean parks as far away as possible. Sam gives him a look, "What, dude?" Dean says, "There's no way I'm parking next to those minivans, Baby would definitely get scratched!"

I tune out their bickering because I can see the entrance to Disneyland and if it weren't for Sam and Dean trailing behind me I would sprint to the entrance. I hand my ticket to the friendly lady at the gate and she waves me through. I step into the park and my eyes immediately go to the Mickey shaped flowers where I had my picture taken fifteen years ago. Sam comes up behind me and pulls out his phone, "Go stand in front, I'll take your picture." I skip over and pose in front of the flowers, feeling closer to my parents than I have in a really long time. Memories from my last time here flood my mind and put a smile on my face.

"Let's get someone to take a picture of the three of us!" I say, and Dean starts to object, "No!" I say sternly, "We have to take _one_ , then I'll leave you alone."

He huffs and mutters to himself while I ask the lady next to me if she could take our picture. I stand in the middle of Sam and Dean and wrap my arms around them. She takes the picture and Dean immediately unwraps himself, "Okay," he says, "Let's find some churros."

Sam grabs my hand and the three of us walk down Main Street towards the middle of the park. I look at the boys and can't help but laugh at how awkward and out of place they look next to the moms pushing strollers and the dads wearing fanny packs. They both look so tense, "Guys," I say, trying to hide a smile, "relax. You both look like you're about the fight someone. There's no monsters here."

Dean glares at me, "All these people could be monsters, they seem so… _happy._ No one is this happy, something's definitely wrong with these people."

"You've just never met anyone normal before." I say and just as I say it I see a churro cart up ahead. "Ooo! Here we go Dean," I point at the cart, "A promise is a promise."

I leave the boys at a table and run over to the cart. I stand next to it, inhaling the sweet smell of dough and cinnamon. The employee hands me my three churros and I rush back to the table and sit down, handing a churro to each of them. "Okay," I say, "get ready for this deliciousness."

Dean and Sam both take a bite and their eyes get big. Dean sighs, "Awesome." He says, inhaling the rest of his churro.

I catch Sam staring at me, a smile playing across his face. I smile back at him, "What?" I ask.

He brushes cinnamon off the side of my mouth and shrugs, "Nothing, I just haven't seen you this happy in a long time."

I smile and stand up, "Okay, I think I know the perfect ride to go on first."

We make our way through the crowd and I wave my hand at the first ride, "Ta-dah!" I say.

Dean and Sam share a look, "The Haunted Mansion, really?" Dean says, "I could have easily taken you to a _real_ haunted mansion for free."

We go inside and file into the elevator with the other park goers, and the little pre-ride show begins. The lights go out and the story starts. I haven't been here in so long, but it seems like only yesterday as the room starts to "stretch" and the pre-show ends. We walk through the rest of the house and Dean says, "This is nothing like a real haunted house."

I swat his shoulder, "Sh! It's supposed to be fun, forget about hunting and let yourself enjoy this."

We somehow cram all three of us into one of the ride buggies and we set off into the Haunted Mansion. I can tell Dean wants to critique what's happening, but I ignore him and lean forward, soaking up all the cute decorations and songs that play around me. I can feel Sam watching me, so I smile back at him and grab his hand. We get to the end of the ride and our buggy turns to face a mirror where fake ghosts are projected into our buggy. Sam and Dean both jump, "Ah!" they gasp. I look at their shocked faces and laugh, "Guys! It's fake!"

We get outside, and I can't stop laughing. I grab my side and double over, trying to control the hysterics that are taking over my body. Through laughs I say, "We kill monsters for a living, and _that's_ what scares you two."

"Shut up." Dean says and walks ahead of me towards the rest of the park.

I look back at Sam and reach up to give him a kiss, "Now this is _officially_ the best birthday ever!" I say, letting out another big laugh.

He smiles at me, "I should get scared more often, if it means you'll kiss me after."

I give him another kiss and he puts his arm around me as we walk down the street in search of Dean. We find him sitting at a table, holding a huge turkey leg with a huge smile on his face. He looks at the turkey leg, "I was ready to hate Disney forever, but I think this has made up for all the bad things."

We spend the rest of the day going on different rides and eating all kinds of junk food. I can tell that the boys are starting to have a good time, not that they would admit it. Once it starts to get dark we begin to make our way back towards the castle so that we can watch the fireworks. We stand off to the side away from the crowds. I stand in front of them, "Thank you guys so much, again." My eyes tear up a little, "Between hospital visits, kidnappings, and weirdo visions, we've been through a lot these past few months, so it's nice doing something happy for once." I look up at each of them, "Thanks for making my birthday the best day ever."

Dean gives me a quick hug, "No problem kiddo, I guess Disney is only slightly horrible."

I roll my eyes at him, only Dean can hate Disneyland. I look over at Sam, but he looks a little nervous. I'm about to ask him what's wrong but the music and fireworks start, and I get distracted. I turn around to look up at the castle, the fireworks are just as beautiful as I remember. I feel Sam come up behind me and wrap his arms around me. I lean into him as he kisses the top of my head.

He whispers in my ear as I watch the fireworks, "These last few months with you has been the most amazing time of my life. I can't imagine my life without you; your smile, your laugh, your humor and most of all your kindness. I love you so much Maddy."

Happy tears streak down my cheeks as he moves to stand in front of me. He pulls a small box out of his pocket, opens it, and gets down on one knee. I gasp, and my hands fly up to my face. Inside the box is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.

"Maddy," he says, "Will you make me the happiest man on earth, in the happiest place on earth, and marry me?"

"Yes!" I shout, and he puts the ring on my finger. I launch myself into his arms and kiss him like we are the only two people on the earth. Fireworks explode around us, and some people even clap for us.

Dean comes over and claps Sam on the shoulder, "Congrats man." And then looks over at me with a slight glint in his eyes, "I'm really happy for you two."

"Oh my god!" I say, "Are you about to cry!?" I go over to him and give him a big hug that he reciprocates.

"What?" he says, "No!" He clears his throat, "It's the uh.. the smoke from the fireworks. It's making my eyes burn."

Sam puts his arm around me and we head back towards the entrance. I can't stop looking down at the ring, it's perfect. We get back in the car and Dean pulls away as I watch Disneyland fade away in the distance.

I turn forward and look at the boys, reaching forward to put my arms around Sam, "Well," I say, "I don't know how you guys are going to top this for next year's birthday."

They both laugh, and, in that moment, I don't think my life could get any better.


	13. Blizzard

**Author Note: This chapter was inspired by an idea presented to me by Dimac.31 :) Thank you all for your reviews and continued support!**

A passing truck wakes me from a deep sleep, messing up my dream about running through a field while hundreds of dogs ran with me. I laugh to myself and wipe the sleep from my eyes, catching the glint of my ring out of the corner of my eye. I hold my hand out in front of me and examine it, smiling to myself. I roll over in bed and watch Sam sleep for a minute, his mouth hanging open and his arms splayed out around him. I glance over at Dean's bed and notice that he's missing, probably went farther into town to get something.

I look back at Sam and he starts to stir, so I snuggle closer against his chest. When he opens his eyes I whisper, "Good morning, fiancé."

He grins and runs his hand through my hair, "I could really get used to hearing that."

I sit up on my knees and then throw my leg over him so that I'm straddling his hips before leaning down to kiss him. He sits up, kissing me deeper and longer while I knot my fingers in his hair. "I love you." I say between kisses, which makes him kiss me harder.

The rumble of the impala causes us to break apart and when I hear its door slam I try to jump off Sam, but instead tumble onto the floor. We both burst out laughing as Dean walks in the door saying, "Man, it's starting to snow like-" he looks down at me on the floor, "What did I miss?"

This makes me laugh harder, causing me to snort. I clap my hand over my mouth, "Nothing!" I say, "What about the snow?"

Sam puts a pillow over his lap and I have to turn away from Dean, so he doesn't see my laughter mixed with a blush. Dean doesn't notice and jumps back into what he was saying, "It's starting to snow pretty good, so I think we should leave soon before it gets worse."

I jump up and grab my duffel bag, so I can change in the bathroom. We are currently in a small town in northern Colorado. We decided to bunk here for the night so that we could rest up before moving father East in search of hunts.

I pull my jacket tighter around me and make my way through the snow towards the car. Sam takes my bag and throws it into the back, followed by his own. We all hop in the car and Dean pulls away as I shake snowflakes from my hair. We slowly make our way through some back roads in hopes of making it on the highway, but the roads have not been snowplowed recently and are very hard to follow.

Dean groans, "Let's go somewhere warm next, I hate this snow." Sam nods next to him as he tries to use a map to figure out where we are because none of us can get a cell signal. Dean messes with the radio until he finally finds a news station, " _Be careful out there, this storm is really starting to pick up. It is best to stay off the roads and find somewhere safe…"_ the radio goes in and out of static, " _Good luck!"_ it says before looping back to the original message. I grip the seat in front of me and watch the snow fall outside.

Suddenly, there's a loud popping sound and the car starts to fishtail along the road, "Woah!" Dean shouts and jerks the wheel, bringing us to a stop alongside the road.

We all get out, huddling together against the cold, to find the back-left tire to be completely flat. "Damnit!" Dean yells, kicking a pile of snow. I huddle against Sam and take a look at our surroundings. I squint into the trees and notice a small cabin a couple hundred feet into the forest.

"Look!" I point into the trees, "There's a small cabin! Maybe we can find some help, or a place to wait out the snow?"

We find a small road that leads to the house and Dean slowly limps the car up to the house. He hangs back to jack up the car a little as to not bend the rim while Sam and I investigate the house. Sam knocks on the door and shouts, "Hello?" while I peak in the windows.

"There isn't any furniture inside, it must be abandoned." I say, my teeth chattering. Sam pushes the door open and we enter, kicking up years of dust as we walk in. The small living room is completely void of any furniture. Only a few stray oil lamps and a pile of wood fill the space next to the fireplace. I wander the rest of the cabin and find some old newspapers, dated 1985, and bring them into the living room so we can start a fire.

Dean comes running in as I crouch on the floor stacking wood in the fireplace. He comes over to me and kneels next to me, helping with the fire, "Ugh, hopefully I can patch the tire in the morning, so we can make it to a garage and find a new tire."

He hands me his lighter and I finally get the fire started. We both sit back and hold our hands out to warm them. Sam comes back into the room, holding what appears to be some old photo albums. He stands next to us, "I found these while I was looking for blankets in one of the closets." He hands one to me and I flip through it, noticing that almost all of the pictures are of a man and a woman. There is only one where the man is alone, standing in front of the cabin next to a newly planted tree.

I look up from the album and fear runs through me because standing behind Sam is a woman. I jump up, "Sam, look out!" Dean reacts next to me, grabbing the fireplace poker and running it through the ghost making it temporarily disappear.

Dean looks alarmed, "This cabin is haunted?! Well that's just awesome." He holds the poker out in front of him, ready to fight at any moment. We grab all the necessary spirit weapons from the car and I make a salt circle on the floor for us to stand in. The house is eerily quiet as we stand inside the circle but the quiet is soon interrupted when the front door is flung open. Wind gusts inside and disperses the salt that protects us and as soon as the circle breaks the woman appears behind Sam. She grabs him and viciously throws him across the room where he rolls to a stop against the opposite wall, knocked out.

I look at Sam, panicked, but raise my gun to shoot her, but she disappears. "Where did she go!" I shout, spinning in a circle to look around. All of a sudden, I hear Dean cry out in pain and shout, "Maddy!" I whirl around and see the woman standing in front of Dean with her hand buried in his chest. I steady my gun and shoot her square in the stomach making her disappear. I run over to Dean as he falls to the ground, "Are you okay?" He nods and gets shakily to his feet.

Sam groans and rolls over and starts to get to his feet, but I hurry over to him to push him back down. "Take it easy, let me look at your head." He sits back down, and I crouch next to him, so I can find the source of the blood that trickles down his forehead. I find a small cut at the top of his forehead where his hairline starts and breathe a sigh of relief that he doesn't need any stitches.

Dean comes over to us and makes a new salt circle before sitting down, "Okay, we need a new plan." He grunts as he plops down.

"Well," I say, "The ghost is either just tied to this place or she's buried here. I think she might be the woman from the pictures." I look around the cabin and try and figure out where she could possibly be buried, then a thought pops into my head. I jump up and run over to where the photo albums were thrown.

"Hey!" Dean shouts, "Get back in the circle!" I ignore him and flip through the album until I come to the photo of the man standing next to the small tree. The tree isn't in any of the pictures with the woman and when I look outside I can see the branches of the tree under the blankets of snow. I walk back over to the boys and show them the picture, "Didn't some people use trees as a grave marker when a loved one died?"

Sam looks at the picture and then back at me, "Yeah! We should check it out."

Sam and Dean grab shovels from the car and I stand guard, shot gun at the ready. It takes them about forty-five minutes to dig into the compact earth, but finally I hear the loud 'thunk' noise of shovel against wood. They break open the casket and are just about the salt the bones when the woman appears in front of me. Before I can get a shot off she knocks the gun from my hands and grabs me around the throat, choking me.

She throws Sam back before he can run over to me, I croak, "I'm… fine, ju-just finish it!" I slap at her hands and gasp for breath, but she soon staggers backwards and screams before bursting into flames. I fall backwards onto the snow and cough and wheeze as fresh oxygen enters my lungs. Sam rushes over and holds me as my coughing finally subsides, I pat his arm and take a few deep breaths.

We wait until the fire burns out and then numbly file back inside. I can barely feel my hands as I add more wood to the fire. Dean emerges from the other room with a couple of blankets that he found in the small attic. I'm rubbing my hands together and holding them close to the fire when Sam comes to sit next to me. He puts his arm around me and I lean into him while he kisses the top of my head.

After we all warm up, we lay the blankets out to create make-shift beds just far enough from the fire that we won't get burned, but close enough that we can still feel the heat. "That was definitely an eventful day." I yawn, laying down next to Sam and resting my head on his chest.

Dean chuckles, "That's for damn sure. Hopefully tomorrow is mellow."

Sam rubs circles on my back and soon we all fall into a deep sleep, exhausted from the unexpected fight.

Sam sets down two coffee cups and slides into the booth across from me, pulling me from my research daze. I take a sip of my coffee and then reach across the table to take his hand that rests there. His thumb rubs lazy circles across the back of my hand while I tell him what I found.

"Her name was Maggie Richards and she was married to Greg Richards." I turn the computer around, so Sam can see their picture. "She was alone in the cabin one day when two men broke in and murdered her, for no reason other than to steal their things." I look sadly at her pictures, "Greg came home to her dead body and has since moved to another state to start a new life."

Sam frowns, "That is a really awful way to die, no wonder she stayed back to haunt that cabin."

I nod slowly, "This article says Greg decided to bury her outside the cabin because it was her favorite place to be. She loved nature and living an isolated life in the trees."

Sam sighs, "After all the craziness we've been through in the past year, I think an isolated life sounds pretty great."

I scan the article further, "Looks like other people have been killed in that cabin since Maggie's death. Victims were all men, brutally murdered by an unknown killer." I close the article, "Guess it's a good thing we stumbled upon that cabin."

I close the laptop and watch Sam take a sip of his coffee. I lean across the table so that I can kiss him. We pull apart just as his phone rings, "Dean" flashing across the screen. "Yes, Dean?" Sam says, and I hear, " _Quit making out and get your asses over here, the car is done."_ We both look out the window and see Dean standing outside the garage across the street, looking at us. Sam keeps my hand in his as we leave the booth and head into the cold, but thankfully snowless, day to get back to work saving people and hunting things.


	14. Old Friends

I bounce my leg up and down and lean my head against the seat in front of me. "Please drive faster!" I plead to Dean. I have had to pee for the last thirty-five miles or so, we are driving on an isolated road with no restaurants or gas stations in sight.

"I told you," Dean says, "I can just pull off and you can run into the trees." I ignore him, which makes his teasing intensify, "There might even be a stream with flowing water where you could take a long drink."

I lift up my head to glare at him, which makes him laugh harder than he already was. Sam quietly laughs next to him and I gasp, "You too Sam?!" I narrow my eyes at him, "You're sleeping on the floor tonight." He clears his throat and turns towards the window, but I can still see his shoulders shaking with laughter.

"Okay, okay, I'll stop." Dean says, "There, look, a gas station is coming up in half a mile. We could use some gas anyway."

We pull into the gas station and, before the car is even stopped, I throw open the door and jump out, power walking into the convenience store. Sam follows me in and browses the snack aisle while I ask the employee for the bathroom key.

He looks at me while I dance around trying to hold my bladder, "No key hunny, go on out there."

I dash towards the door yelling over my shoulder, "Get me some skittles, Sam!" I walk around the corner and into the bathroom, almost taking out a woman with the door as I enter. "Sorry!" I tell her, giving her a once over to make sure I didn't hurt her before going into the nearest stall. The relief is instant, my bladder no longer feels like it is about to explode. I hear the bathroom door click as the lady most likely exits. I open the stall door and head for the sinks, but I'm shocked to find the woman standing in front of the door.

I jump a little, "Oh! You scared me, I thought you left." I turn to the sinks and start washing my hands, feeling uneasy about the stare down I'm getting from her.

"Those men you're traveling with, they owe me for the suffering they put me through." She says, anger in her voice.

My head snaps up to look at her, "Excuse me?"

"My name's Meg." She says, and terror washes through me as her eyes turn black.

I take a few steps back, cursing myself for not bringing a single weapon with me. "What do you want?" is all I manage to ask.

"I suffered greatly in hell after your precious Winchester's sent me back. Now, I want them to suffer too." She grabs me by the throat and throws me into the line of sinks where my shoulder cracks painfully against the faucets. Water sprays out of the broken sinks, drenching my clothes and hair. The water turns a pinkish color as the cut on my forehead drips into the puddles around me.

The door handle jiggles and I hear Sam on the other side, "Maddy? Are you okay? I thought I heard a crash."

I try to yell but Meg puts her hand over my mouth, "Give me a minute," she whispers to me, "then you can tell him yourself." Meg comes to stand over me and tries to do something, but then makes a frustrated noise, "Why can't I possess you!"

She looks at my shirt and notices a small black line peeking out from my v-neck. She pulls my shirt back and my anti-possession tattoo is revealed. I laugh, and she punches me hard in the face. My head hits the floor and I cradle my face, tears springing to my eyes.

"Guess we're going to have to do this the hard way." She huffs, as Sam continues to try and break down the door. She rips a pipe from below one of the sinks, the last thing I see is the pipe swinging towards my head.

I start to regain consciousness and groan as my head starts to throb. I touch my face and feel caked on dried blood and the aches of forming bruises. I look around and realize I'm in some sort of cell, Meg stands outside the bars looking down at me.

"Finally," She says, "I think I'll give your little boy toys a call." She pulls my phone out of her pocket and scrolls through my contacts, clicking on one of them. I try to stand up, but my arm is chained to the wall, therefore preventing me from moving more than a few inches.

"Hello Sam." Meg says, grinning to herself, "How lovely to hear your voice again."

 _"_ _Who is this?!"_ I hear Sam yell.

"Oh Sam, I'm offended that you've forgotten me so easily." She walks over to my cell gate and unlocks it, producing a loud creaking noise. She puts the phone on speaker and saunters over to me.

" _Meg_." Sam states, his anger clearly audible.

"I'm here with your lovely fiancée, what a gorgeous ring you've picked out!" She lifts my chained left arm, leans down next to me and examines my ring.

"Get away from me!" I shout, pulling my unchained arm back and bringing it forward to slap Meg as hard as I can.

She gasps, "That is no way to treat your host!" She brings her foot down hard on my forearm, breaking the bones there. I scream and cradle my arm to my chest, my vision going black around the edges.

I hear Sam shout, "Maddy!" but it sounds muffled, as if I'm underwater. "I'm going to kill you!" he continues, but Meg just laughs.

"You can try and find us, but there might not be much left after I finish with her." She laughs maniacally and hangs up the phone, smashing it under her shoe.

She slams the cell door closed and then looks back at me, "Rest up, we are going to have so much fun tomorrow!"

I let the pain of my arm overtake me and I slump against the floor, unconscious.

I wake up to someone shaking me, pain immediately lashing through my arm. Tears spill onto my cheeks as I blink my eyes and look up at the person shaking me. Sam is kneeling next to me, trying to unchain my wrist.

"Sam?" I croak, not believing my eyes.

"Come on," he says as he pulls me up into a standing position, "We've gotta get out of here."

He supports my weight as we make our way down a dark hallway and into a big room, hurrying past a row of desks. However, instead of going towards the exit he steers me down another hallway and stops to look at me.

He grins, "Did you really think I would help you escape?"

I sway a little as he releases me, and I look at him, "Wh-what?" and then it dawns on me, "You aren't Sam."

He backhands me, and I am sent flying backwards down the hall. As he walks towards me he starts to shrink, and his features turn feminine, and soon Meg stands before me. "Isn't this fun!" she shouts, "Magic is so great, I can make you see me as whoever I want!"

She morphs into Dean and walks over to me, nudging my broken arm with the toe of his boot. A scream of agony bursts from my mouth, and then he grabs my hair in his hand and pulls me down the hallway back towards the cell.

The rest of the day is constant torture. "Sam" and "Dean", sometimes both of them, come into my cell and either beat me up or yell hateful things at me. Meg sometimes makes an appearance, pointing out the fact that Sam and Dean still aren't here to rescue me, so they must not care that much about me.

She leaves me alone for an hour or so, and in this time, I fade in and out of consciousness. My body feels like it is completely covered in bruises and my arm throbs constantly. I am just about to fall asleep when I hear Sam distantly call my name. My eyes well up with tears, I don't know how much more torture I can handle.

He runs up to my cell, "Maddy! Oh god, are you okay!?" I can hear him attempting to pick the lock on the cell door. This is different, usually they just walk in, but I don't get my hopes up. I turn towards the wall and let my tears fall onto the floor, "Leave me alone," I say, "Just kill me already, I'm tired of your games."

Sam is quiet for a second but then continues to pick the lock, "Maddy, it's me! Come on baby, hold on for me." He finally picks the lock and swings the door open, running over to kneel next to me. He rolls me over and gasps when he sees my battered body. I see Dean come into the cell, "Is she okay?" he asks, kneeling next to Sam.

Sam looks down at me frantically as tears flow freely down my cheeks. The fake Winchesters only ever looked angry, could it actually be them? He quickly unchains my wrist and I raise my shaking hand to his cheek, "Sammy? Is it really you?"

He holds my hand against his cheek with watery eyes, "Yes, it's me. Let's get you out of here."

"Oof, her arm…" Dean breaths, looking at my broken arm that lays across the floor. "We need to splint it before we start moving."

I try to take my mind off the pain and look at Sam, "What happened to Meg?" I whisper.

Sam sighs and brushes the hair out of my face, "We ambushed her, and she smoked out before we could fight. I guess she really wanted to live."

Dean comes running back in with what appears to be pieces of old wood flooring and a roll of duct tape, "It's not the best, but I think it'll do." He kneels beside me again and orients himself around my black and blue arm. "Alright kiddo, this is going to hurt like a son of a bitch, but it'll help in the long run."

He gingerly lifts my arm up so that it is perpendicular with the floor. I bite my lip and breathe deeply in and out as fresh tears spill onto the floor. Dean holds the boards against my arm while Sam wraps it in the duct tape. Sam wipes the tears from my cheeks, "Are you okay?" he asks after he finishes the wrapping, voice breaking.

I nod and take one more deep breath before I start to sit up, he puts his hand on my back to support me. Dean gets on my other side and they lift me up, Dean leans me against Sam and walks in front of us to hold the doors open. I'm so weak, if Sam wasn't holding onto me I would surely fall to the floor. When we get outside I realize that Meg was holding me in an abandoned police station. Sam lowers me into the backseat and then slides in next to me. I lean against him, cradling my broken arm in my lap.

I think about how awful I must look, "What are we going to tell the emergency room?" I ask, trying to think of a rational explanation for my current state.

We are all silent for a few moments, but Dean finally speaks up, "There are lots of abandoned places around here, we could say you fell through the floor into the basement."

I nod, "Down a flight of stairs into the basement? Just in case they investigate?"

Sam puts his arm around me, hugging me closer to him. I can feel how tense he is, probably thinking about all the what ifs had they not found me. I look up at him, "Relax." I whisper, "Every thing's fine now."

He kisses my forehead as Dean pulls up to the hospital. They help me walk into the surprisingly nearly empty emergency room and a nurse directs us toward one of the beds. I lay on the bed and Sam holds my uninjured hand while my eyes start to close, exhaustion setting in. I can hear Dean outside the curtain telling the doctor the fake falling down the stairs story.

The doctor gives me some pain meds and they numb my arm, so I start to feel a little better. They take x-rays of my arm and while we wait for a nurse to come place a cast on my arm, a question dawns on me, "How did you guys even find me?" I ask, looking between Sam and Dean through drowsy eyes.

"While I was talking to Meg," Sam says, "I heard the cell door bang and knew that you had to be in some sort of jail type cell."

"Yeah," Dean says, feet propped up on my bed with a mouth full of vending machine popcorn, "We checked out so many different abandoned buildings before we came across that police station."

Sam looks at me with sad eyes, "How come you didn't believe it was actually us when we found you?"

"Oh, that…" I look down at my bruised arm, "She used some sort of black magic to make her appearance look like you two and then she would uh.." I look between Sam and Dean, "beat me up."

Sam's eyes widen, and Dean's mouth falls open, a piece of popcorn falling out of it and onto the floor. Before either of them can speak I raise my good arm to stop them, "It's fine, really. I mean, I'm not saying it wasn't awful, but I knew it wasn't you guys."

I laugh, "I saw it as pay back for all the times I forced you two to watch those cheesy romance movies in the motels."

Sam laughs and shakes his head, "Those movies really are terrible."

Dean throws a piece of popcorn at me and I pick it off my shirt and pop it in my mouth. He looks hopeful, "Does this mean no more movie marathons?"

I grin at him, "In your dreams buddy, we are definitely going to have one later tonight." Sam and Dean both groan in mock disgust but smiles creep onto their faces. Our banter comes to a halt when the nurse, a young blonde, comes in to place my cast.

"Well, hello." Dean says to her and walks over to where she stands.

I look over at Sam and we roll our eyes at the same time. We both laugh, and Sam takes my good hand in his, "I love you."

I look down at the ring on my finger, "That's good, because it just so happens that I love you too."

The nurse, after giving Dean her number, comes over to my bed and starts the casting process. I look over at Dean while the nurse's back is turned, he shows me the number on the paper and gives me a thumbs up. I smile and shake my head at him, thinking about how different my life would be if I hadn't come across the Winchesters.


	15. Shock of a Lifetime

**Author Note: I have been debating pulling new characters into this story and finally decided that I wanted to! I've been envisioning this chapter in my head for a while, so I hope my vision came together. Thanks for reading :)**

I hold my cast in front of my face as I lay in the back of the Impala and sigh loudly. It's only been one week since my run in with Meg, but I'm already so tired of this big clunky cast. I can't sleep comfortably, shoot a gun very well, or even get a shirt on in a timely manner.

"Let's quit the pity party back there." Dean says, laughing quietly to himself. I sit up and lean over the front seat, "Ugh, you're right. Sorry. This is just so annoying." I whine.

Sam takes my casted arm into his hands and smiles at the poorly drawn dog that I told him to draw, his name written underneath. On the other side, Dean attempted to draw a tiny Impala, but it turned out to look more like a blob. It's the thought that counts.

I look out the window, "What did Bobby say again?" I ask. We were headed towards Bobby's house for a visit since we were in the area, but he called to tell us there is a possible case nearby.

Sam looks down at the notes he wrote down while he talked to Bobby, "A local graveyard is thought to be infested with ghouls due to the amount of grave desecrations and disappearances of ground keepers."

I sit back in my seat, "Ghouls, lovely."

We pull into the graveyard just as the sun begins to set. I wrap my jacket around me as I step out into the chilly South Dakota air. Sam wraps his arms around me and gives me a quick kiss before joining Dean at the trunk of the car. The boys and I conceal weapons in our waistbands and Dean fills his green duffel bag with shotguns and other useful items. We are about to set off to search for the ghouls when a groundskeeper emerges from behind a tree and walks towards us.

"Hi folks," he says, "is there anything I can help you with?"

Sam and Dean don't miss a beat, "Yes," Sam says, "we are with a local news station and were wondering if you could show us where the grave desecrations have been happening."

"Yeah," Dean adds, "we're doing a small article about how the community can help stop these horrible acts."

The groundskeeper nods, "Alright, follow me and I'll show you."

I loop my arm through Sam's as we follow the man towards a large tomb. I shiver as we pass through the doors and into the tomb. I look at Sam and then at Dean, "Something feels wrong." I whisper, the hair on my arms standing up. I can tell from both of their expressions that they feel the same way.

The groundskeeper grins at us as the doors behind us slam shut. Dean runs to them and tries to open them, but they are firmly closed. "So nice of you to join us." The man says as two other pale figures emerge from the shadows of the tomb. The three of us brace ourselves for a fight just in time for them to run towards us.

I manage to block a punch from the groundskeeper man with my cast arm, but he is too quick for my reflexes and he punches me hard in the stomach. I gasp, and he uses my moment of weakness to throw me across the tomb. I slide across the floor and hit a stone casket, causing the already teetering lid to slide off the top and pin me to the ground.

I panic and look towards Sam and Dean, but they are also pinned by the ghouls they were fighting. The woman pinning Sam to the wall by his throat speaks, "My, my, looks like we caught ourselves a couple of hunters."

"Let them go!" I shout, trying to wiggle out from beneath the stone lid. The woman looks at me, "Oh. Are these two important to you?" she asks with mock concern.

Dean grunts and struggles to break free from the hold the ghoul has on him. The woman starts to laugh, "I find that hunters are sooo much easier to deal with once they've been put down."

She pulls a knife from inside her jacket and I start to panic and try to free myself even harder. Next to me, Dean does the same, fear flashing across his face. She swings the knife towards Sam as Dean and I both shout, "NO!"

The knife slices into his neck and he falls to the floor while she cackles like a crazy person. My stomach drops, and my ears start to ring as I watch Sam struggle on the floor, holding his hand over his neck. Dean breaks free and reaches for one of the shotguns, anger replacing his fearful expression. He kills the two male ghouls before they even realize what is happening. I finally manage to painfully pull myself out from under the stone and grab a shotgun. The woman tries to run but I shoot her directly in the head and she falls to the ground.

Dean and I rush to Sam's aid and find him unconscious. I pull my flannel over shirt off and push it against the gushing wound on Sam's neck. My eyes are blurry with tears, "Sam!" I shout, "Sammy, come on open your eyes!"

I notice a few tears slip out of Dean's eyes as he shakes Sam's shoulders, "Come on little brother, stay with us." Sam's eyes lazily open but his skin is a disconcerting pale color. I hold the shirt firmly against Sam's neck as his eyes find mine. I can't hold back my tears and they flow freely down my cheeks and onto his chest. He coughs and opens his mouth the speak, "I love you." He says as he cups my face with his hand.

My tears are turning into sobs as I stare into his eyes, "I love you too, but you have to hold on." I look over to Dean, but he looks a million miles away as he watches Sam lay there. "Dean!" I cry, "We have to do something!"

He finally looks up at me with tears streaming down his face. Sam's hand slips from my face and falls to the floor. I look back down at him as his eyes start to close. "No!" I shout at him, "Wake up!" His chest rises and falls one last time, and then he becomes completely still. My sobs become uncontrollable, making it hard for me to breath. "Sam!" I yell, "No! This can't be happening, get up!" I throw myself across his chest and sob into his shirt.

Dean falls backward against the wall and puts his head in his hands, "I failed." He whispers, "I couldn't keep him safe." The ringing returns to my ears, erasing all the noise that surrounds me. I sit next to Sam and hold his hand, willing him to wake up. Dean comes to sit next to me and takes my other hand.

I don't know how long we sit there, but Dean eventually stands up and leaves the tomb. I don't ask where he's going because I can't bear to look away from Sam. I hear the Impala pull up outside and Dean walks back in holding a blanket from the car.

I seem to black out because the next thing I know Dean and I are sitting in the front seat of the car while Sam lays in the back. My tears have momentarily stopped, I must be in shock. I slide across the bench seat towards Dean and he puts his arm around me while we drive down the highway. Neither of us speaks as we drive into the Singer Salvage Yard.

Bobby must hear the car pull up because he comes out the back door as Dean and I get out, "Well this is a surprise!" He says, "I wasn't expecting you until at least to-" He stops short when he sees our tear stained faces. "What happened!" He asks as I take a shaky step forward and burst into tears the second he hugs me to him. "S-Sam i-is d-d-dead!" I wail against his chest.

I dampen a washcloth and make my way back into the living room where Sam lays on the couch. I uncover his face and use the washcloth the clean up the dried blood from his face and neck. I fix his hair and pull up a chair next to the couch. Dean and Bobby are both on the phone trying to find a way to bring Sam back. I look at his peaceful face and take a shaky breath as fresh tears spring to my eyes. "What am I supposed to do now?" I whisper, "You're my favorite person in the whole world, and now you're just… gone."

I catch a glimpse of the ring on my finger. "This isn't how it was supposed to be." I cry, "We were just starting out, we had our whole lives ahead of us!" I pick up his hand, "I don't know how to live without you, I love you too much."

I look over at Bobby's desk and notice a small wooden box sitting on top of a stack of books. A thought pops into my head and I walk over to pick it up. I frantically search for some other items and then slip out the back door before Bobby or Dean notice me leaving.

I walk a couple miles before I find what I am looking for; a crossroads. I walk into the center and sit on the ground with the box in my lap. I forgot to grab a shovel, so I painfully dig into the hard ground with my fingernails. I eventually dig a hole deep enough for the box to fit, but fear runs through me as I lower the box into the ground. I pull my knees up to my chest and stare at the box as the sobs return. I think about what Sam would say to me if he knew what I was doing.

I sob for what feels like hours before I hear a car pull up in front of me and then Dean yelling, "Maddy!" I look up at him and see the panic on his face. He kneels in front of me and grabs my shoulders, "Please tell me you didn't make a deal!" he yells. My face scrunches up and I shake my head and he releases a breath of relief.

He sits next to me and pulls the box out of the ground while I wipe my eyes. He stares into the hole, "I don't know what to do." He says, "I feel… empty." I look over at his vacant expression and take one of his hands in mine, "Neither do I, none of this feels real." I look at my ring, "Everything was fine this morning. We were all laughing."

Dean just nods his head, obviously thinking about what he could have done differently. I look down at the drawing on my cast and say a silent prayer, more to myself than anyone else. "Please." I say in my head, "Help us get through this. Help us either find a way to bring Sam back, or help us live with this loss." I feel more tears coming but I force them down, "Sam doesn't deserve this."

We sit in silence for a couple more minutes before a deep voice speaks from behind us, "Hello."

Dean and I both jump up, I step back, accidentally tripping in the hole, and fall onto my back. I scramble onto my feet and Dean and I both stare at the stranger in front of us. "Who the hell are you!" Dean shouts, stepping protectively in front of me.

He stares back at us, "I am Castiel, and I am an angel of the Lord."


	16. Angels are Real?

**Author Note: Sorry it took me so long to publish this chapter, school is keeping me busy! As always, thank you for the continued support! :) Let me know if there is anything you would like Maddy and the Winchesters to do next!**

My mind buzzes with questions as I step around Dean's shocked figure and stare at Castiel, "An angel?" I ask, confusion in my voice, "I didn't think they actually existed."

He's wearing a suit and tie with a long trench coat over the top, not exactly what I envisioned an angel would wear. He looks at me, "Yes." He states, "We keep an eye on humans, but I have grown fond of watching you three."

This snaps Dean out of his daze, "Watching us?" He shouts, "Why are you going all peeping tom on us?"

Castiel faces Dean, "I am not sure what that is in reference to." Dean and I exchange glances as Castiel continues, "You save people with the work that you do. I enjoy watching you banish the evil that walks the Earth."

"Dude…" Dean says, "That is beyond creepy, knowing you guys are watching us from up above."

A thought occurs to me, "So if angels are real, then heaven is real also?" I don't know why we never believed in angels. We know demons and hell exist, so there must be angels and a heaven.

"Yes." Castiel says, "It is a little different from the stories that humans read, but there is a heaven."

I nod as fresh tears come to my eyes, "Is-is Sam in heaven? He definitely deserves to be." Dean turns towards me and puts his arm around me, quietly showing his emotional side.

"Ah, yes, Sam. He is the reason that I have come down to Earth." He looks back at me, "I heard your prayer about him and decided that I should intervene." I stare back at him, confused. Then remember the silent prayer that I said a couple minutes ago.

"Oh," I say, "I didn't realize that was a legit prayer, I was kind of just talking to myself." I shiver a little as the night grows colder, but the idea of Sam being in a better place warms my broken heart.

"Sam's soul resides in a between zone of heaven and hell." Castiel explains, "I believe that I can retrieve it and bring him back to the living."

Dean sucks in a sharp breath and tightens his arm around me. He looks down at me with a shimmer of hope in his eyes, making the forming tears in my own eyes spill onto my cheeks. He returns his gaze to Castiel, "He would be good as new? No weird side effects?"

Castiel nods, "I myself might get into some trouble, but Sam will be perfectly fine." My world spins a little as I imagine reuniting with Sam, hugging and kissing him again. I don't realize that I'm falling until Dean pulls me back upright, "Are you okay?" He asks with panic in his eyes.

I pull myself back to the present, "Yes," I breathe, wobbling a little, "this is just very overwhelming." I choke back more tears, "I just want to see Sam again."

"Okay," Castiel nods, "I will work on finding Sam's soul and returning it back to his body. You should wait by his side and I will return to you when I am finished." With a wing flapping sound, Castiel disappears and Dean and I are left alone.

We make our way to the car, I roll my window down as we drive so that the cold air can wash over me. My eyes start to get heavy and I count in my head, realizing that I haven't slept in about 22 hours. We pull up to Bobby's house and he comes rushing out, demanding answers for why we were gone for so long. Dean reassures him that neither of us made a deal and fills him in on the angel business.

His eyes widen, "An angel?" he looks back and forth between Dean and I, "And he just said he'd fix Sam, no charge?" Dean and I both nod. "Something seems fishy about all this."

I walk over to Bobby and melt into his warm embrace, "There's nothing else we can do. We just have to trust Castiel." I say, my voice muffled by his shirt. I pull back and give him a weak smile before walking into the house. I pull a cot from one of the closets and place it next to the couch where Sam lays. I lay down and take one of his ice-cold hands in mine as I try to fight sleep, but it pulls me under.

I hear voices talking close by, but my eyes stay firmly shut. I feel like I should be doing something, what were we doing yesterday? My mind starts to clear, and I feel someone pushing my hair behind my ear. I lazily open my eyes and blink at Sam's smiling face, watching me from the couch. I freeze, SAM IS SITTING IN FRONT OF ME. I gasp and sit up quickly so that I can better see him.

"Hi." He says, a smile spreading across his face. I jump off my cot and into his lap, straddling him between my legs. I hug him as tightly as possible and he hugs me back with the same force. I pull back, so I can see his face, I grab it between my hands and kiss him softly.

"I can't believe it." I say, "You're really here, I-I don't even know what to say."

He wipes the tears that I didn't realize were falling onto my cheeks. He smiles at me, "I wanted to wake you, but Dean said that you had a rough couple hours and that you really needed the sleep." I want to strangle Dean, I wanted to be there when Sam woke up! However, I am too happy to dwell on this for long because Sam is here!

I kiss him again, to ensure that he truly is sitting here underneath me. I slide off his lap and bury myself in his side and he puts his arm around me, holding me tight against him. I sigh, "I didn't know what I was going to do without you. I felt empty, nothing mattered anymore."

He matches my sigh, "I don't remember anything from after, but I remember the pain of the cut on my neck. I could feel myself fading, but all I could think about was you." I wrap my arms around his torso, "I saw the life that we could have had, I used those happy visions to dull the pain until everything went black."

He leans down and kisses me more passionately, and things may have escalated if someone didn't clear their throat behind us. I look at the doorway and find Bobby, Dean and Castiel watching us. Dean laughs, "Cas just needs to check and make sure everything is in order, then you can, uhh, resume." Bobby chuckles and I feel my face turn bright red. I scoot away from Sam, but he keeps my hand firmly in his.

Castiel comes to stand in front of Sam, he puts two of his fingers on his forehead, where a yellow glow starts to emanate. I stare wide eyed at Cas until he pulls away, "Everything seems to be in order." He turns to me and looks at my cast, "I could heal your arm if you wanted me to." I look down at my cast and think about the itch on my wrist that I haven't been able to reach for the past week. "That would actually be one of the best things ever."

We manage to get the cast off with a mix of power tools and big scissors. I ignore the shooting pains that flow through my arm and wrist because I know it will be over soon. I sit at the kitchen table and rest my arm gingerly on the table. Sam stands behind me while Castiel comes to stand over me. He hovers his hand over my arm and the same yellow glow comes out of his hand. I gasp as I feel the pain diminish and the bones move together in my arm. I stare down at it, "Amazing." Is all I can manage to say.

I flex my fingers and look up at Cas, "Thank you so much! That cast was really starting to get annoying." I look at him more seriously, "Also, thank you for risking yourself to save Sam. We'll be forever grateful."

He nods and looks at all of us, "I should return to heaven to explain what I have done. If you ever need me just call out and pray to me." He doesn't say any kind of goodbye, he just disappears.

Dean flops into the chair next to me, "This has officially been the strangest forty-eight hours of my life." Bobby pops open some beers and places one in front of Dean, who immediately downs half the bottle. Sam sits on my other side and Bobby plops down across from me. We drink our beers in silence for a few minutes, each trying to figure out what just happened.

My stomach starts to growl, and I look down at my watch, one o'clock in the afternoon, I really slept the day away. Bobby laughs at the sound, "Should we order some pizza?" he starts to get up to look for the phone number, but I stop him, "Um, why don't Sam and I go into town and pick up some burgers?"

Sam picks up on what I'm trying to do, "Yeah, the burgers are always better than the pizza. We can just run out real quick." Dean, sadly, also picks up on what we are trying to do. He smirks and tosses the car keys to Sam, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do." I turn red for the second time today and turn away from them to get my jacket.

Sam holds the door open for me and we make our way towards the car. We pull away from the house and once we are out of sight Sam pulls the car behind a stack of old crushed up cars. I rip my seatbelt off before the car is even stopped, Sam does the same. He grabs my face and kisses me passionately. We somehow manage to get over the front seat and onto the back bench where Sam pulls my clothes off. We don't get enough alone time, so we make the best of it when we do. Yesterday I thought that I had lost Sam forever, having him here underneath me is surreal.

I lay panting against his chest a little while later and he rubs his hand up and down my back. I sigh as my stomach growls again, "I guess we really do need to make a burger run." Sam laughs and kisses the top of my head, "Anything for you." I sit up and start to pull my clothes back on. Sam watches me, which makes a smile creep onto my face. He sits up and brushes the hair out of my face, "You are so incredibly beautiful, I love you so much."

I kiss him softly, "I love you too, Sam." We get back into the front seat and speed off into town.

I hold the bag of burgers on my lap as we pull up in front of Bobby's house. Sam turns off the car but neither of us moves to get out, we just look at each other. He takes one of my hands, "What did you and Dean do when you thought I was dead?"

My arms get goosebumps when I think back to the crypt and Sam laying on the cold floor, white as a sheet. I squeeze his hand, "We sat with you for what seemed like hours, Dean kept whispering about how he had failed you." He stares back at me, silently telling me to keep talking, "We brought you here, to Bobby's, and I sat next to you for a long time while Bobby and Dean contacted everyone they knew, hoping to find a way to help you."

I take a shaky breath, "I had an idea, but I knew that I couldn't tell Dean or Bobby because they would probably lock me in the panic room." Sam looks at me with a confused expression, "I gathered the necessary supplies and walked a few miles until I found what I needed; a crossroads."

He looks at me, alarmed, and whispers "You were going to make a deal?"

I close my eyes and rub circles on the back of his hand with my thumb, "Yes. I dug the hole for the box and everything, but I couldn't do it. I knew that you would look at me the same way you are now. So instead of making a deal, I just cried for you." I open my eyes to find his expression has changed back to sympathy. "That's where Dean found me, and where Castiel appeared."

He takes the burger bag from my lap and places it on the floor and then takes both my hands in his. Then he pulls me to him and we hug, showing each other how much love we have between us. Suddenly, my door is ripped open and Dean sticks his head inside, "I couldn't wait any longer, I'm starving. Wrap it up and come inside, love birds." He grabs the food bag and heads back into the house.

I turn my attention back on Sam, "Please don't tell him what I told you, but he was a mess while we sat in that crypt." Sam glances towards the house, "He put on a brave face, probably for me, but the light in his eyes faded. He blamed himself for everything."

Sam swallows hard and just nods, not trusting his voice. I clear my throat, "But enough with the heavy. Everything is back to the way it should be, so let's go eat burgers and drink beer!"

Sam laughs, and we get out of the car, where he throws his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close to him. I never get tired of being around Sam Winchester, and I hope I'm never without him again.


	17. Ambushed

**Author Note: I'm finally back with a new chapter! Life has been crazy, but I've found time to start writing again. Thank you all for your continued support and I hope you continue to enjoy this story! :)**

It took about a month, but we were all finally back in the groove of hunting. It felt really good to move on from all the suffering we have been through in the past couple months. We killed a nest of vampires and rid a house of a nasty poltergeist, but now we were working on some smaller hunts. The boys and I have traveled to this small town in Arkansas where people are dying very strange deaths: drowning in sinks, crushed by refrigerators, etc. In other words, dying in ways that should not normally be possible. We suspect a vengeful spirit is to blame, but who the spirit is we have no ideas.

I find myself reading the same page over and over again, so I sigh and close my book. I'm stretched out in the back bench of the Impala, waiting for the boys to finish up in the small morgue. I look at my watch, they have been inside for almost an hour and I'm starting to get bored. I look around the quiet street and a dress shop across from me catches my eye. I make my way across the street and stand in front of the display window. Three beautiful wedding dresses sparkle in the fading sunlight, each more beautiful than the last. The dress to the right puts a smile on my face, it has a tight top with a beautiful flowing skirt. My mind wanders as I stare at the lacey detailing and the delicate straps.

I imagine myself walking down the aisle towards Sam, his eyes slightly teary as he sees me for the first time. The wedding is small, just our close friends, but none of that matters, Sam is what I'm looking at. The voices of Sam and Dean bring me back to the present. I look over my shoulder and see them exiting the morgue and walking towards the car. A car pauses to allow me to cross the street and I wave at them as I jog back towards the Impala. Sam smiles when he sees me and then looks at where I just came from and an interested look spreads across his face, "Shopping for wedding dresses?"

I lean up to kiss him on the cheek, "Just looking." I say as I smile back at him. We slide into the car and they fill me in on what they found out about the man who drowned in 6 inches of water. Dean pulls away from the curb as he loosens the tie around his neck,

"The creepy morgue guy said that drowning was the definite cause of death," Dean says as he throws his tie into the backseat with me, "but some bruising around the neck makes him believe that his head was held under water."

I think about this for a second, "Okay, so the police think someone killed him?"

Sam flips through the police report they picked up earlier, "No, they didn't find any signs of forced entry. All the doors and windows were locked."

I sigh and lean back into my seat, "So, definitely our vengeful spirit. Guess we have to talk to the family and figure out what this dude's been up to and what enemies he's made."

Dean pulls up in front of our motel room and we all make our way into the musty room. Dean immediately starts changing out of his suit while Sam flops onto the bed and starts flipping through channels on the TV. I sit down on the floor next to my bag, rifling through my clothes, trying to find some pajamas to change into. Dean throws his clothes on his bed and grabs his keys, "I'm gonna go to the bar and rustle up some cash playing pool."

He opens the door and grins to himself, "Put a sock on the door or something so I don't have to gouge out my eyes if I walk in on something I don't want to see."

I grab my nearest shoe and throw it at his head, but he ducks just fast enough, and it slams loudly into the doorframe. Sam glares at him, "God Dean, just go already." Dean gives him one last wink before slamming the door shut. I listen to the Impala drive away before hoisting myself off the ground with a grunt and a roll of my eyes, "Why does he have to be so gross all the time."

Sam laughs, "I don't know, he just loves to torture us." I change into my pajamas and crawl onto the bed next to him, laying my head on his shoulder. He kisses the top of my head, "I wish we could lay like this forever."

This makes me smile and I turn me head to look at him, "Me too." I say, pulling him in for a kiss. He pulls me on top of him, but the sound of flapping wings brings us back to reality. I look over, expecting to see Castiel standing before us, but a woman stands there instead. Sam and I jump off the bed and he scrambles for his gun. The woman is too fast though, and with a wave of her hand Sam and I both go flying into the wall behind us. Sam smacks into the wall while I go smashing through the small table under the window. I roll onto my side coughing, trying to replenish my lungs with the air that was knocked out of them.

The woman walks around the bed and looks down at us, "Where is Castiel." She states in a harsh tone. Sam and I exchange a confused glance and he stands up, "Who are you?" he shouts at her, glancing around the room for his displaced gun.

I am about to push myself up off the ground when a stabbing pain erupts in my stomach and I can't help but scream and clutch my stomach. Sam starts toward me, but the woman waves her hand and pushes him up against the wall, "Maddy!" He shouts, looking back at the stranger, "What are you doing to her!"

She fixes her cold stare on Sam, "Answer my questions Winchester, or I continue to liquify her insides." I gasp and cough, causing blood to come spurting out of my mouth and drip down my chin. Breathing becomes difficult as blood most likely fills my lungs, "S-Sam" I choke out between gasps. More blood drips out of my mouth as I writhe on the floor.

The woman looks at me and then back at Sam, "Now, let us try this again. Where is Castiel?"

Sam struggles against her hold on him, "I don't know! I haven't seen him in months!" he shouts desperately at her, darting his eyes between me and this woman.

She clenches her jaw, "Maybe some more pain will jog your memory." She turns her stare back on me, "How about we try breathing without any lungs?"

Sam shouts, "No!" as my chest stops rising and I clutch my throat, frantically trying to get oxygen into my body. Choked noises escape my lips as I roll onto my back, black spots starting to dot my vision.

Sam struggles harder, "Let her go! We don't know anything about Castiel!" as Sam finishes his sentence, the motel door flies open and Dean runs in, opening fire on the woman. She stands still, completely unharmed by the bullets that slice their way through her body. She throws Dean into the TV, causing it to go crashing to the floor.

My hands fall away from my throat as my vision starts to blur and my limbs start to go numb. I can hear Sam yelling something, but it feels like I'm underwater. The last thing I see is someone appear in the room next to the woman. This mystery person pulls a long silver knife from their jacket sleeve, thrusting it into the chest of the woman. I see a bright white flash as my eyes start to slide closed, pain and darkness taking over my body.

The pain in my chest starts to fade, and I can't help but think to myself "Am I dead?" I start to regain the sensation in my limbs and then my eyes snap open and I gasp while I sit up, disoriented. I clutch my throat and take a couple deep breaths. Looking around, I see Castiel leaning over me, Sam and Dean stand behind him with relief in their eyes. I find myself shouting, "What the hell just happened!"

Dean sinks onto the bed behind him, "We were wondering the same thing. So yeah Cas, What the hell! We haven't seen you in friggin months and some angel comes around trying to kill us!" Sam comes to stand next to me and I grab his hand.

"I need to go." Castiel says, but Dean jumps off the bed and grabs his arm. "No!" He shouts, "Not before you explain who your little friend was."

I stand up and walk over to Castiel, putting my hand on his arm, "Please Cas, just talk to us. Let us understand what's going on." I pull him over to the only upright chair and guide him to sit down. He unwillingly sits down in the chair but doesn't speak. I glance back at the boys, but they are staring at me. Apparently, I'm running this conversation. I pick up the overturned chair next to Castiel and pull it off the ground and place it in front of him, where I take a seat.

"Okay, uh," I try to organize my thoughts, "I guess start at the beginning. We haven't seen you in months, what has been going on?"

His shoulders slump a little, so I grab his hand and squeeze it a little, "It's okay, you can trust us. We want to help you."

Dean scoffs and says under his breath, "Yeah, help the dude that almost got us killed."

I whip around in my chair to glare at Dean, and behind me Castiel finally speaks up, "He is right. It is my fault that you are all being hunted."

I turn around to look at him and Sam speaks up behind me, "Hunted?" he asks. Castiel looks down at the floor, "Yes. My superiors are not happy with my decision to resurrect you. I've upset the natural order, therefore they want to right my wrongs."

All three of us stare wide eyed and open mouthed at Cas as he continues to explain the situation. "They not only want me dead, but also Sam. They also wouldn't mind killing both you," He looks into my eyes sadly, "and Dean."

Dean sits on the bed and rubs his face with his hand, "Why do they want to kill me and Maddy?"

"Well," Castiel continues, "you two stand in the way of them killing Sam."

Sam speaks up behind me, "So, what do we have to do?"

Castiel stands up, "Try to stay out of the public eye as best as you can, there are angels posted all over the world looking for you three." He comes closer to me and places his hand on my forehead and then does the same to Sam and Dean, "I've placed protective warding's on you, which should help hide you from the angels."

Dean makes a sour face, "Placed on us how?" Castiel looks him in the eyes, "I carved it into your ribs of course." And with that sentence he vanishes without any more explanation.

We exchange confused glances, millions of thoughts run through my mind. Each worse than the last. I can't help but imagine angels swooping in and killing us all in a heartbeat. I take a deep breath, "Well, I guess we should call Bobby, have him send some other hunters to finish up this vengeful spirit case."

Dean pulls his flask out of his jacket pocket and takes a long drink, "Yup. Looks like our lives just got a little more interesting."


End file.
